


Connecting the dots

by Rona23



Series: Merlin´s  magic [6]
Category: Merlin (TV), Merlin - Fandom
Genre: After Camlann Merlin Big Bang, Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, Canon Related, Canon Rewrite, Canon Universe, Drunken Shenanigans, During Canon, Evil Morgana (Merlin), Fix-It, Gen, God Gwaine, God(dess) of Mischief, Good Morgana (Merlin), Gwaine Being Gwaine (Merlin), Gwaine Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Gwaine´s mom, Happy Ending, Humor, Immortal Leon (Merlin), Immortal Merlin (Merlin), Implied Merthur, M/M, Magic Revealed, Merlin's Magic Revealed (Merlin), Oblivious Arthur, Rumors, The triple goddess - Freeform, crap, dragon - Freeform, emrys - Freeform, headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:14:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22183912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rona23/pseuds/Rona23
Summary: After some time, when the round table was just established and knights went out on patrols, they eventually start talking about events that have happened in Camelot so far.One day, some of them mentiones how Merlin always seems involved.Which is why Gwaine made it his mission to make Merlin the travel Cryptid. Why is he stealing dresses? How come he suspects someone of treason and the next day they find them dead with evidence of their treason around?After some time of this game called: connecting the dot´s it becomes a thing. There is about as much bullshit as there are right guesses. But which are which is up to you to decide.
Relationships: Gwaine & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Gwaine & Leon (Merlin), Gwaine & Merlin (Merlin), Leon & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Leon & Merlin (Merlin), Leon & Morgana (Merlin), Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: Merlin´s  magic [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1588378
Comments: 192
Kudos: 951





	1. The game

**Author's Note:**

> So I did a thing XD
> 
> If you want, you might play narrator a little and add similar conversations in the comments. I could maybe add another chapter where it´s just shenanigans such as these.  
> :3 I really liked the idea, so ^^

There is this phenomenon most people call boredom. And believe it or not, even knights knew this feeling.   
Not everyday was filled with adventure, saving or rescue missions etc. etc.   
Even the busiest of days usually contained lots of preparation, rather than anything exciting.   
But the most bored they felt, when they just set up camp and sat in a circle. Waiting for a servant or whoever was in charge for it, to make supper. 

When they were younger, inexperienced and stuff, they would have played games, sparred each other as training and so on. Today, they were glad for the few moments that they didn´t actually have to do anything.   
They´d rather watch the fire or tell each other old stories of adventures that had happened in and around Camelot.   
However, when Gwaine started telling a story about what happened in the tavern in the nearest town for the fith time this week, even the calm Percival had enough. 

“Can we please talk about something else? We´ve all heard this story before, Gwaine. Can´t we just like – talk about – I don´t know – why Arthur and Merlin are gone again?”

“Oh?”, Gwaine actually shut up, sighing as he took another sip of “water” from his flask. (It was ale.)  
“Do my stories bore you?”

“Yes!”, Leon sided with Percival. “Don´t get us wrong, Gwaine. We usually enjoy your stories, but we´ve been in this godforsaken place for days now and I can already retell all of the things that happened to you the past couple of years by heart.”  
Gwaine pouted at that, but didn´t really complain. 

“Alright, alright. I get it. No more of me then. Percival, you said you wanted to talk about Arthur and Merlin?  
They told us, they had to stay in Camelot – prepare for some kind of feast? I dunno.”, Gwaine said, emptying his flask and looking into his flask in disappointment.   
“Does anyone have more ale with them?”, he asked, causing Leon to take his flask away in a swift motion before slapping him with it on his head. 

“You shouldn´t be drunk, Gwaine!”, he hissed, barely noticing how Elyan handed Gwaine a different flask. His face didn´t even twitch, while Percival held back his laughter. 

“Well anyway. How about we make a bet?”, Leon huffed, trying to change the topic.   
“A bet? I mean – I´m in, but what about?”, Gwaine answered, while tiredly ruffling his hair.   
“Well – for one – is something happening in Camelot while we´re gone?”, Leon hesitated to say. After all, he just wanted to bridge the boredom that had settled in the camp, while the sun was setting in the distance. Covering them in red and yellow lights. Everything turned darker so it seemed, except for the fire, which glow grew stronger with time. 

“Well – we could also bet when the next thing is going to happen to us. I mean – we´re out in the open – bandits are rumored to be close etc. etc.”, Elyan threw in.   
Leon sighed, but Percival had something to say that made Gwaine perk up in interest:  
“I bet nothing is going to happen to us. After all – Merlin isn´t here. Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“What do you mean?”, Gwaine asked, suddenly a tad more sober. (To his own disappointment, really.)

“No no – I get what he means. Things always happen around Merlin, so it seems. At least he´s always there when anything happens.”, Elyan agreed. 

That left the group silent for a few moments. Each of them rethinking a different moment, where something weird happened and Merlin was involved. Merlin – so it seemed – really was always involved. Without him around, the chances of anything happening was significantly lower than with him. 

“Do you guys all remember, when that dragon attacked Camelot?”, Leon finally spoke up.   
“I mean – Arthur told me he defeated the dragon, but we never found the corpse?”

Gwaine looked at him with a laugh. “I doubt that, honestly. I´ve heard some talks in the tavern that a witness saw the dragon fly away. Didn´t Arthur also say he was unconscious for a little, after he gave the mortal blow to the dragon?”

Leon opened his mouth in thought. “Arthur said that´s what Merlin told him. And honestly that makes the most sense. I mean – Merlin and Arthur were both uninjured – why would the Dragon fly off? You think Merlin pleaded him into leaving Camelot alone? Did he make a deal?”

A sudden clap interrupted them, as Gwain punched his hands together. “YES! I bet that´s how it went. Merlin told him to leave and then the dragon did!”  
“Gwaine, don´t be ridiculous. No man has the power to control a dragon like that.”, Elyan rolled his eyes, while handing out plates (he was in charge for supper tonight) and handed out the food. 

“No one -”, Gwaine started grinning. “Except for a dragon lord.”, Gwaine said, pointing at Elyan. Now he was in his element. The tiredness gone immediately from his happy features, he sat up, and grabbed for his plate with food, before starting.   
“So – where were Merlin and Arthur only days before? Right. They were out to find the last dragon lord. Who – inconveniently died before he could return to Camelot to save it. So what if – he gave his powers to Merlin?”

“ I hardly doubt that´s possible, Gwaine.”, Leon grinned, as he grabbed for his own plate. “You´re just making this up.”

“I know I know. But – let´s try this for once. It´s fun. Think of it as a game. A game of – of connecting the dots. You all know how much crap happens in the castle. We can make our own head canons. It´ll be fun.”, Gwaine insisted, practically begging Leon with puppy dog eyes.   
“It´s all hypothetical of course.”

Leon sighed. “Alright. It´s something knew at least. So what do you imagine, besides Merlin being a dragon lord?”

“Well – remember when Arthur told us how Merlin cried over the dragonlord´s death? Because he sacrificed himself and stuff? Merlin has seen many people die. Why is this dragonlord different? A few things about that: Why would a dragonlord die for a servant? Why would he listen to said servant, to help Camelot? Especially if Uther was the reason he was banned in the first place?” Gwain looked around, arms raised in question.   
“Maybe because Camelot was in danger and their last hope just died?”, Leon threw in, rolling his eyes. 

Gwaine ignored him. “Come on guys. Percival, do you have an idea?”

Percival let his spoon sink into his place, thinking about this for a second.   
“I don´t know? Maybe he knew Merlin? Maybe they trained together to become dragon lords?”

“Good good, I like that.”, Gwain nodded a little. 

“Except for the fact that Merlin is a lot younger than this dragonlord. Maybe – maybe Gwaine is right and the gift of controlling dragons was given to Merlin by the dragonlord. What if -”, Elyan´s eyes widened with excitement.   
“What if that guy was his father?”

Gwaine´s mouth opened in equal glee. “Yes, that´s a great idea. What was his name again? Balinor?   
So – Somehow Merlin finds out about this by – let´s say Gaius. And then they go search for him, Merlin tells him they are related, Balinor agrees to help them and then he dies. And -”

“The gift of the dragonlords are given from father to son, but only if the father dies!”, Percival ended the sentence, proud of his own idea. 

“That´s it!”, Gwaine slapped his own legs with a happy laugh, almost spilling his supper. 

\------------------------

It became a regular occurrence for the knights. It was usually Gwaine who would start it, but with time, everyone, even Leon started liking their little hypotheses.   
There was a lot of crap in it. Like “imagine, when that woman made everyone fall asleep with her voice, Merlin didn´t because he´s secretly deaf, but very good at lip reading.   
That´s how he managed to escape her and save Athur his first day in Camelot.”

It was also Gwaine who decided which theories were considered “group canon”. It were mostly his own, of course. 

Leon´s favorite headcanon was created by himself as well.   
“You know – one night I was out on patrol and I met Arthur and Merlin in some of the halls. And they told me – and now listen carefully – Merlin was teaching Arthur poetry.   
They were obviously lying. I mean – I know Arthur. He hates poetry. I bet they were doing – something – else.”, Leon laughed at that, as Gwaine spit out his drink. Almost choking.   
“Like you know – maybe they had an affair.”

At that the whole group laughed simultaneously. They were unable to look Merlin and Arthur in the eyes for days to come. 

\---------------------------

“So what haven´t we talked about yet? What about that beast that Arthur defeated once? I think that was the one time, Merlin didn´t seem involved in anything that went on in Camelot.”, Elyan began one night. 

“Now that you mention it. That´s true. But he was still doing something weird those few days.”, Leon chimed in. Happy for the distraction. (He was on watch duty, but apparently the other knights couldn´t sleep, because it was summer and hot as hell and the sun wouldn´t be setting soon.”

“Exactly. My sister told me – she saw Merlin steal some of Morgana´s dresses back then.”   
That had the whole group roaring with laughter already.   
“Maybe we should ask Merlin what he does in his freetime.”, Gwaine laughed. 

“Nah, I don´t think he was crossdressing that time. But hold that thought, we might need it again. I know for a fact that wasn´t the only time he was searching through a princess´ closet.”, Elyan said between laughter.   
“I think we can make more of this.   
So let´s imagine, Merlin had a girlfriend at that time...”, he continued, receiving a groan from Gwaine. 

“Oh please, don´t make this another love story. Also you´re ruining my Merthur ship.”  
“Arthur is married.”  
“Your point is?”

Gwaine and Elyan looked at each other seriously, before bursting into laughter once more.   
“No no – please. Go on.”, Gwaine wove off his earlier comment. 

“Well – let´s imagine this girl was hiding somewhere. She didn´t have clothes -”, he ignored the whistling sounds from Gwaine.   
“So Merlin stole some for her. Planning to run away with her.”, he began. 

“Yeah, alright. But why didn´t she have any clothes? And what does this have to do with that beast? You want to tell me she was hurt by that beast, so Merlin helped her?”

Then, Percival interrupted them once more. “No no – what if she WAS that beast?”, he said, leaving the whole group left in thought. 

“Would be quite dramatic – since Arthur killed that beast.”, Leon said, as the usually funny mood suddenly died. This was obviously not what Elyan had intended.   
Percival let his head sunk. “Sorry.”, he muttered. 

“That´s okay. Let´s go back to the dress thing.”, Elyan cheered him up a bit.   
“So – you remember how Arthur told us how Gwen turned against him and he went and met a sorceress? And she wanted to be payed in clothes?”  
That turned the mood back up.   
(“I liked the idea with Merlin´s girlfriend dying though...”, Gwaine muttered into his drink.)

“So …. what if Merlin actually was that sorceress …? Like – Mordred told us how she held Merlin captive. What if that was a lie and Merlin actually put on that dress and came forth to help Gwen...”, Elyan continued. 

“So you mean, Merlin is a sorcerer now?”, Leon raised an eyebrow.   
Which picked Gwaine´s curiosity once more. “Duh, as a dragonlord, of course he has to be.”, he chimed in. “The most powerful to ever exist.”, he added after thinking a bit. 

“We both know the most powerful sorcerer is rumored to be a guy called Emrys.”, Percival interrupted Gwaine´s thought trail. 

“Exactly!”, Gwaine pointed at him. “What if the druids gave him that name?  
SO – I have an idea. And it makes so much sense:

Like – years back, when Arthur was on a quest to prove he was worth to become king and he went into that magical kingdom of the fishermen king – I was there!”, Gwaine started. 

“You´re making that up. Arthur was there on his own.”, Leon rolled his eyes. “That was part of the mission. Go there alone. 

“Yes yes. But Merlin asked me to help him follow Arthur.   
So – we were on this magical bridge, when a dworf stood in front of us -”

“A dworf.”, Leon chuckled slightly. This was gonna be a bullshit story again. 

“Yes and he told Merlin and me that this mission had been foreseen for who knows how long. And that Courage was already there and he had only waited for Strength and magic to arrive.   
Arthur was already there, so he must have been courage. I cannot be magic, so that must have been Merlin.  
Oh oh – and there were Wyverns, but somehow they stopped attacking us at a certain point. And then Merlin was alone in that throne room, because the door was closed -”, Gwaine was ranting at this point. Standing up – as he seemed to have a revelation. 

“He should have been able to talk to us, but he didn´t answer. What if – what if Merlin was talking to someone in there? Someone who disappeared as soon as we entered?  
He looked so disturbed too … As though he had seen a ghost – maybe the fishermen king himself? Maybe -”

“Gwaine you´re getting off topic.”

“Leon! I have connected the dots!”, Gwaine said, excitedly.   
“You haven´t connected shit.”, Leon rolled his eyes. 

“No no – ignoring that crap over there.”, Percival pointed at Gwaine, who looked like he just solved a huge mystery ...”

“Let´s just say, Merlin does have magic. So he can make himself old?”

“Morgana did that once, so why not?”, Elyan shrugged.   
“So he was that old sorceress, I assume. But why didn´t he make himself an old guy?”, Leon asked now. 

“Maybe because he had before. You know that old sorcerer who sometimes suddenly arrived in Camelot and solved a bunch of problems – of course until Uther died. After that he might had to change appearances.”

“So you´re saying Merlin killed Uther?”, Percival looked mortified.   
“Maybe? Not on purpose, I´d say. Merlin would never do that. Maybe it was an accident?”, Elyan added....

All while Gwaine was still walking in circles, staring into the trees as though his whole life finally made sense. 

“Nah – I´d rather imagine him Crossdressing for fun.”, Leon finally ended the conversation, leaving the rest of the knights in smiles. 

\---------------------------------------

It didn´t stay that way. Somehow, the stories got overheard by townspeople who wandered off in the forest. And suddenly word got around.   
Accompanied by Gwaine who kept telling people these stories, when he was at the tavern.   
People were captivated by these ideas, and started adding their own headcanons. 

Slowly Merlin became a legend in the towns. A cryptid. Always at his king´s side like a guardian angel, protecting him from harm.   
They started talking about falling branches they couldn´t explain. About bandits that suddenly disappeared – because Merlin or – Emrys took care of them. 

It was after the battle in Camlann, that Gwaine was in a tavern, close to the border to Cendred´s kingdom. Tellin people the story of the great fight.  
It was a story about treason – about friendship – it was the magic reveal people had always hoped for – even though it was quite dramatic. Maybe too dramatic. 

“And then – as the great knight Gwaine faded away, Arthur and Merlin lost their strength as well.   
Morgana attacked them, as she said to Merlin “no mortal blade can kill me!”  
And Merlin – Arthur´s sword – the sword of the stone in hand – ran her through with it. Looking her dead in the eye: “this is no mortal blade, Morgana! Like yours it was forged in a dragons breath!”   
And so Morgana died.”

Gwaine´s voice became louder, with tears in his eyes, as people listened to him. Captivated by his words. 

“And Merlin held Arthur in his arms. Arthur was dying. And he couldn´t move anymore.”, Gwaine hiccuped.   
“Just hold me, please.”, Gwaine impersonated Arthur´s voice.   
He was practically acting at this point. Shaking himself as he reached for something invisible over his head. Before he let his hand fall down.   
“And then, Merlin cried for the dragon to come. So he could take them to the lake of Avalon. There, Merlin bedded his king in a boat and burned it.   
And the dragon would tell him that someday Arthur will return, as he is the once and future king. He shall rise again, when Albion needs him the most. “

“What?”, a young woman behind the bar cried out. “NOOO! Arthur can´t die. He cannot be dead!”, she almost sobbed. “What happened then? When will he come back?”

“Oh, nobody knows that. But Merlin will wait for him forever.”, Gwaine ended his speech. Leaving frustrated complaints.   
“No no no no. That´s not happening. You´re telling me – Merlin will wait until the day he dies?”

“No, worse. Merlin is magic itself. He is immortal. He won´t die. He might wait for thousands of years. Like the fishermen king.”, an older man said, causing the woman to huff in frustration. 

“NO! I don´t like that. Make them come back!”, she whined. 

In that moment, the door opened and a knight, dressed in the red colors of Camelot stormed forward, to grab Gwaine by the ear.   
“Damn it, Gwaine. Stop telling people I´m dead!”, the king himself said, dragging the drunk man out of the bar. A young man with black hair and round ears followed them, handing the barlady some money. “Sorry for your inconvenience.”

He bowed, as he was about to follow his king out of the door, the lady stopped him instantly.   
“Hey, boy, wait -”, she said, causing Merlin to turn around once more. 

“Is it true? Are you Emrys?”, she asked, as the men around her finally caught up to the current situation.   
Merlin´s eyes widened, before he grinned at her. He folded his hands, muttered something in them and seconds later, he had a rose in his hand, that he handed over to her.   
“At your service.”, he winked and with that, he vanished out the door.


	2. The immortal

Of course, the knights weren´t always alone on their quests and missions. It wasn´t that their little game was a secret from Arthur – but it was from Merlin.   
Their headcanons wouldn´t really work, if Merlin knew all about them and denied every single one.   
(Though it could be said that they wouldn´t believe him anyway).   
The thing is – Arthur and Merlin were always together. Which was the cause of a lot of their discussions of course. However, it made it hard to involve the king in their Shenanigans. 

One night – and god knows why, Merlin seemed so exhausted that he slept the entire night of the hunting trip. Maybe Arthur had asked far too much of him lately.   
However, while the knights plus Arthur sat around the fire – just eaten supper and finishing all the chores they had offered Merlin to help with – slowly the boredom filled their minds once more.   
Rare – considering Merlin was here. Usually they would just annoy him, when Arthur was around. Or something exciting would happen soon. 

“Say, guys. Want to play another round?”, Gwaine finally proposed, receiving excited glances in his direction. 

“Play what?”, Arthur asked, obviously lost. 

“Connecting the dots. It´s a game we designed to explain all the weird stuff that happens in Camelot.”, Leon kindly explained. 

“And how does that work?”, Arthur asked again. “Should I wake Merlin? I bet he wants to play too.”

“NO!”, Gwaine exclaimed, almost physically holding the king back. Who in return looked utterly confused. 

“We make up random stuff … like theories, you know? And Merlin is the key to solve our puzzles. We can´t tell him. If we do – it takes away our possibilities.”, Leon tried to reason. 

“Take your possibilities?”, Arthur raised an eyebrow.   
“Yes!”, Gwaine agreed. “He´s our cryptid and we are the ones with the conspiracies. You wouldn´t talk to a yeti to question whether or not he exists now, would you?”

Arthur seemed to consider this for a second. “But wouldn´t you try and search for the Yeti either way?”, he asked. 

Gwaine sighed and shook his head. “My dear princess, “, he put his arm around Arthur, pulling him a little closer. “Searching is nice – put finding means we can´t search anymore and that would be boring as hell.”

“Fine, fine. Let go of me.”, Arthur pushed him away, noticing faintly how Gwaine swayed.   
He was drunk again – great. 

“So, Arthur. How about you begin? Tell us something weird you remember Merlin doing.”

“You mean – like everything he does?”

“No – something you can hardly explain. Things you´re guessing about him.”, Leon encouraged further. 

“Well – I´m pretty sure I saw him rummaging through Gwen´s cupboard once.”, he slowly said, knitting his eyebrows in question. 

“Yeah no. We´ve already talked about that part before. Our conclusion is he´s either a sorcerer or secretly crossdressing. There is – a debate about whether he could be both but that´s besides the point.”, Leon waved off, leaving Arthur staring at them. 

“Merlin – a sorcerer?”

“I like how you think.”, Leon smiled, pointing at Arthur while wiggling his eyebrows at Gwaine. Who groaned. 

“You guys do know that I would have to execute Merlin if that turned out to be true.”, Arthur said, rage suddenly taking him over. He looked at the sleeping form of his manservant as he felt the betrayal rising within him. “It is against the law and -”

“God, Arthur – what the fuck is wrong with you?   
“First and foremost, this is a game!”, Gwaine interrupted him, equally angry now. “None of this is actually true.”, he rolled his eyes.   
“ALSO, if Merlin actually was a sorcerer, then I bet my life magic isn´t always evil. Merlin is the most pure hearted person I´ve ever met. Without him – none of us would be here.   
So – if it actually turned out he was one – I would rebell against you and all of Camelot and ask for the ban on magic to be released!  
You are the king – for all that you´re worth – you can change the law. You made peasants to knights. If you order Merlin to die – it is you who betrayed him. Not the other way around. Understood!”  
Gwaine was sober now. His finger pointing way to close to Arthur´s eye.

“Wow.... Has anyone ever seen Gwaine this protective before?”, Percival muttered, but his question didn´t need an answer. 

“Anyway – now you´ve ruined the mood, Arthur.”, Gwaine sighed.   
All while Arthur kept looking between him and Merlin, as he seemed to be thinking about something.   
“But – if he was a sorcerer – why would he act like a servant?”, he asked, ignoring Gwaine´s uproar. 

That´s when Leon clapped his hands together, causing the majority of the group to look at him.   
“That´s it guys. That´s what this game is about. Today´s question: Why is Merlin so loyal to Arthur?”

That got their earlier depressed mood back in the game, as Arthur listened to them rant about Merlin´s secret.   
“Maybe he want to achieve something in Camelot?”, Elyan offered, but Gwaine cut him off before he could elaborate.   
“No no no. That would mean he betrayed Arthur. Which he would never. The times he almost sacrificed himself for Arthur – no.”

“Are those headcanons too?”, Arthur asked Leon, who sat right beside him. Leon shook his head. “No. We know for a fact that Merlin has sacrificed a lot for you. We just don´t know the extend of that.”

Arthur seemed struck by that for a second, before he nodded and decided to keep listening. 

“What about -”, Gwaine finally smiled at them. “This entire thing was a prophecy?”

“Didn´t we have that already? Merlin being Emrys and stuff?”, Leon rolled his eyes once more. 

“Precisely! What if someone told him about it and told him he had to protect Arthur. Which he did then and slowly became friends with him and then directed all his loyalty at him!”, Gwaine explained, leavin the knights in thought. 

“And who would have told him?”, Elyan asked, captivated by the idea. “A sorcerer?”

“What about Morgouse? Before she became evil I mean?”

“That could make sense. Merlin did warn me of her when she asked me for a duel.”, Arthur added, gaining all the attention suddenly. 

“Hmm... good good.”, Gwaine thought about it. 

“It´s not creative enough for you now, is it?”, Leon rolled his eyes once more. 

“Then -”, Arthur said, hoping he could make something interesting for the knights, as he didn´t want to be only listening at this game.   
“What about the dragon? The one who was hidden underneath the castle? Maybe he told him about it?”  
Arthur, by the way, had been convinced that all of this was just a game by the time he realized they really were all making hypothesis without actual proof.   
However – the thing Gwaine said about magic struck him oddly. A part of him wondered – if maybe it would be a good thing to know there was a sorcerer on his side. At least one who didn´t turn batshit evil. And Gwaine was right – if there ever was a man he could trust to be a good sorcerer – it would be Merlin. 

Gwaine´s mouth dropped open, before he snapped his fingers repeatedly at Arthur. Who flinched back at the sudden noise close to his ear.   
“THAT´s what we´re talking about. Make the dragon talk! Yes! And he speaks in riddles! I love it.”

The knights nodded at each other, grinning manically. 

\-------------------------------------------------

It was another night, when Gwaine finally stood up, not even asking a question, as he told them all a tale. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

A couple of weeks later, the knights sat in a circle around a fire again. Arthur at their side, while Merlin was gone to seek for herbs or wood or something, as a roar could be heard in the distance. 

Curious and already expecting of such a thing to happen when Merlin and Arthur were with them – the knights plus their king went out of their camp to search where the roar came from. 

They had made camp at the Valley of kings, so when they followed the roar towards a small cave, Arthur held them all back. Listening in if maybe this was an ambush. After all – bandits really liked this place for some reason.   
Yet, he didn´t manage to notice the figure that waited right around the corner. For he was stealthy and quiet. And no man had ever managed to see him coming. 

After a second of hesitation they entered the cave, weapons ready. 

„So you have finally come.“, a dark voice said. 

„Who are you?“, Arthur shouted, while the knights were on high alert. „I was not talking to you, young king.“, the voice laughed, but nobody else spoke up. And they could hardly see anyone. 

„Where are you?“, Arthur continued asking, barely seeing anything, despite the torch he had lighted for himself outside.   
“I am right in front of you.”, the voice laughed again. 

And suddenly, something massive bowed down to them. Glowing, yellow eyes made the knights flinch back in shock, as they reflected the scales of it´s massive head. They could barely make out a pair of massive wings.   
It was – a dragon.   
A talking dragon. 

“What the actual -”, Gwaine managed to say, as he recognized the voice as exactly from what he had imagined the dragon to sound like... The dragon from their headcanons of course. 

I see, you all have been playing the game... so you know who I am.”, the dragon laughed at their shocked expression, as their eyes widened. 

“Wait – wait – you mean – you know of connecting the dots? - the things we were talking about – they were all real? ”, Elyan asked, raising his sword in fear.   
“Yes – and no, Sir Elyan.”, the dragon riddled mysteriously. 

“You have simply uncovered parts of the truth. One man can not say which of what you said was real and which was not.”

“Can you talk any more ominously?”, Gwaine asked, already regretting that he made the dragon such a riddler.

“Ah, Sir Gwaine. Strength truly comes with a surprising fable for ale.”

“What does that even MEAN?”, Arthur wined. “Why are we here? Are you hungry? Do you want to eat us?”

The dragon laughed once more then he grinned as his head closed on on Arthur.  
“You cannot believe that my kin needs to eat – do you now? Dragons survive on magic alone.”

“Then, what are you doing here?”, Arthur asked, looking around as he realized that the dragon couldn´t even stretch his wings here. 

“This place is what the ancient ones call the crystal cave. This is the place where magic itself was born. Magic has become rare in your kingdom. My kin is dying and I am the last of my kind.   
Here I can survive – but I cannot say for how long.”  
The dragon sighed. 

“Then what do you want from us?”, Arthur asked, demanding in his tone.   
“I want nothing from you, young king. It was the cave that called for you. This magic is connected to all that is time and space and you have stepped right into it.   
All of you – knights of the round table – have been foreseen to come together to unite the lands of Albion. Of course it is you – the once and future king – whose destiny is connected the strongest to this place.   
As you were born because of magic.”

Arthur stared at him for that. 

“Morgouse did not lie to you, Arthur.”, the dragon finally said and Arthur´s eyes widened as he turned for his friends.   
“You have to be lying!”, Arthur finally explained but the dragon shook his head.   
“Uther has created his own enemies. Magic was never evil. Uther was afraid of the consequences he himself created. He was scared to die like his wife did.”

Arthur stared at him. Not believing a single word. 

“Your father was a coward.”, the dragon added, angering Arthur in the process. However, he was a dragon. And Arthur recognized him as the dragon he once fought. He wasn´t so stupid that would try to attack it right now.

“However, the fact that you are here, means that it is now that the prophecy is created.”, the dragon whispered and it was visible how the crystals began glowing stronger. 

“You mean our prophecy?”

The dragon nodded. '

“But? How? A prophecy is created before something happens!”, Elyan asked, completely confused now. 

The dragon laughed once more.   
“This place didn´t exist until Emrys himself was born. Emrys is magic itself and magic was born here. And yet this cave has always existed.   
It exists outside the realm of time and space. Only Emrys himself can enter and leave at the time he came here. Everyone else will be thrown back in time or to the future.”

“This Emrys -”, Gwaine started, “is he Merlin?”

The dragon smiled in confirmation, leaving Gwaine thunderstruck. 

“Wait – does that mean – neither of us can leave this cave?”, Percival interrupted all of a sudden. 

The dragon nodded once more. 

“Yes.”, he said. “And no.”, he added. 

“What does that mean? How do we get out?”, Percival asked, panic guiding his voice, as the other knights became lost and fearful as well. 

“You can get out of here, young knights. For that to happen, only one of you must leave this cave.   
And make sure you shall never enter in the first place.”

“What? That´s absolute crap!If what you say is true - we wouldn´t know when we´d get out! And who says we´ll live long enough to see Arthur rise as king? Maybe we come out in the future? What then? YOU could go out. You´re a dragon. You can -”

“I cannot. I am a dragon. I am a magical creature. I can only exist in one place and time.”

“Didn´t you just say only Emrys can exit this place whenever he wants?”

“Oh yes. He is my lord. I am connected to him. He is what holds me in this place. I as well cannot leave – but for different reasons.  
And it is true that you are not able to live as long as a dragon – but if you carry magic out of here, it shall enhance your lifespan. And grand you to bind magic to you as you continue to live. You shall become immortal. And with eternal magic like that in the land– you may even prevent that I ever came here as well. Then all of us would be free.”  
The dragon finished, leaving all of them confused.

After a while, Leon spoke up once more.   
“And who should go back and become – I don´t know –this immortal? How do we decide?”

“You don´t.”, is what the dragon answered.   
“What?”, Leon asked. 

“All of who are around you, young knight– are not real. Your friends never entered this cave with you, Sir Leon.”

Leon´s head perked up in shock and surprise, as he looked around. Noticing how his friends slowly faded from where they were. Stuck in the expression they had only moments before.  
“What? How? But!” Sir Leon turned around – fear replacing every other emotion he had felt up until now. 

“They are but a reflection of what once was. I have met you before, Sir Leon. A long time ago. Back when dragons were roaming the earth. And you have been remarkable.  
And yet, all of that is still in front of you. As it is time for you to begin your journey through time. You shall realize what good magic is for this kingdom. And you shall guide the young Emrys to save the king and Camelot. Your legend will be foreseen and retold in all times that have been and that are yet to come. For you are Sir Leon – the immortal.”

And with that the dragon as well – faded away. Leaving Leon alone in the cave. If he believed the story or not is of no matter – for he left the cave either way.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ______________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

“And that is why we never entered the cave in the first place.”, Gwaine said, bowing to his fellow knights. Receiving a couple of claps from Elyan and Percival. 

“You must be demented, Leon is right here.”, Arthur rolled his eyes at the suggestion.   
“Yes.”, Gwaine squished his eyes, suspicion directed at Sir Leon who was staring at him with wide eyes and utter confusion. 

“How the hell did you even get that idea?”, he asked.   
“Information comes to you in weird ways.”, Gwaine ominously replied. 

“The chances of Leon being immortal are about as high as your chances of secretly being a prophet, Gwaine.”, Mordred shook his head.   
“Or as you being a druid?”, Gwaine offered, causing Mordred to choke on his drink as he blinked at Gwaine in shock. 

“Yeah, guys... not happening. Go to sleep, all of you.”, Arthur shook his head, leading all of them to their bedrolls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A.N.//: *So this chapter is actually very important. For one: Arthur realizing that magic can be good.   
> Secondly: Literally anything can be canon now. Even the contradicting things, because you´d never know whether what happened to Leon was real or not. And if it was - he could have changed the future he knew to be true before. Please note that none of these scenarios follow a direct line. They could have happened any time. Sometimes enemies could be friends, sometimes they are not. And yet it all fits into the story because of this chapter. (Which I am really proud of, honestly. I really wanted to include the immortal Leon meme, so here you go :3)*


	3. Destiny´s shape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well... this one contained a lot - and I mean a lot of random headcanons that came to me at work.   
> just a reminder: things that you consider canon in this story, can be canon and not. It depends on the perspective you look at them from.   
> I may add a magic reveal at some point. Maybe multiple different ones. After all - everything can change :)

And of course – after all that has occurred up until now – we must finally – finally introduce the protagonist of this story. After two whole chapters all he did was sleep up until now. Let´s wake him for once.  
A great welcome to our good friend:

“MERLIN!” You could hear Arthur´s shouting over the entire battlefield.  
Somehow, it seemed it was always his first instinct to make sure Merlin was okay, no matter where they went. Whom they fought … etc. He always shouted his name first. (Priorities, am I right?)

Merlin heard him, as he as well, always made sure to know where Arthur was. But you know that already. Otherwise you wouldn´t be here now, would you?  
Destiny, indeed, seemed to be a very unstable thing. Which was why it was crucial for Merlin to keep to himself to hide his secrets. And yet, if Merlin had known – well – let´s just say he would have spend a lot less energy on trying to hide. 

Arthur had thrown over a sword that he had taken from one of the bandits he had struck down. Merlin somehow managed to catch it and he defended himself as though his life depended on it.  
Which it kind of did, didn´t it?  
Merlin could – if he managed to do so without being caught – let branches fall on bandits. He could make them trip. But he could not fully defend himself with his magic. Without it – he barely managed.  
That - he needed the sword for. Strange how he had chosen to protect the one person that made him vulnerable. 

“HA! Knights of Camelot!”, another voice suddenly roared from up the hill.  
It was a man in strange armor. He was old, older than Arthur at least. Younger than Agravaine, though. His hair was brown but short and it lightened on his head in a slight bold spot. The silver of his armor was rusty and it bended strangely on the shoulders.  
He bore the crest of Cendred´s kingdom. But it was a crest so outdated, you would only recognize it, if you had studied them by heart. (Or maybe to fake someone´s identity, to make sure he could become a royal knight of Camelot.)

“You think you could defeat me? Me, Lord Hemming?”

“I literally never heard of you!”, Arthur deadpanned. 

“Neither have I of you. You stupid boy. Who did you say you are?”. He held up his hands and soon the bandits backed away. Ready to fight again like a bunch of koyotes on a hunt, but obedient like little dogs. 

“I´m Sir Arthur, king of Camelot.”, Arthur bowed mockingly. 

“Is supposed to frighten me?”, the man laughed, but then – then you could see his mind working. Like wheels were turning in his head. As he recognized that name. “Did you say King of Camelot? As in – the once and future king – Arthur Pendragon of Camelot?”

Oh damn, here we go again, Arthur thought, sighing as he was about to confirm just that. 

He was interrupted though. 

“You mean, this man next to you is -”, he backed away. Visibly flinched in fright. 

“You must be Emrys!”, the man said, causing Arthur and a few of the knights (Sir Leon and Sir Percival) to turn to Merlin in irritation. Because the man was staring at him, obviously.  
Merlin´s eyes widened, as he stepped back as well. Subconsciously of course. “What – what are you talking about?”, he asked, shocked and in fear and more. 

Was this really happening?  
This was it? Wasn´t it! His secret was out. Arthur was going to kill him. No wait, the man didn´t clarify who Emrys was, so unless Merlin would act like a totally stupid coward, he could just lie - 

“Emrys, the strongest sorcerer to ever walk the earth.”, the strange man paled at the future he saw before himself. Screw it, Merlin was doomed now.  
“Guys, retreat. This is a battle no man can win. Please spare us, great lord!”, he bowed. No – kneeled before the scrawny manservant. 

Arthur gave the man the look, as the bandits retreated and stumbled away from Merlin. 

In seconds, the place was empty. Only a few unconscious men were left to their feets, as Merlin opened his mouth to say something. Anything, really. But as he realized he had no words to describe what had just happened, he just looked down. Eyes still wide.  
Had his clothes always looked this dirty or had that happened during the fight? He would have to wash them again. 

All of a sudden, he felt a clap on his shoulder, and heard a sword be sheathed away.  
“Don´t worry, Merlin. You don´t have to understand that.”, Arthur shook his head. Trying to contain his laughter, as Elyan and Percival couldn´t hold theirs in.

“What?”, Merlin looked up, confused. Arthur didn´t even look surprised. As though he had expected this to happen. Wait did he know -?

“Don´t bother to question it, Emrys. You might hurt yourself.”, he ruffled Merlin´s hair, emphasizing his druid name as though it was all a joke.  
“You should probably thank Gwaine though. At least you have a reputation now. Maybe we´ll get attacked less now.”

“Wait – huh?”, Merlin was utterly confused now. What had Gwaine to do with this? The man wasn´t even here? 

“Don´t worry Merlin. Gwaine is spreading rumors is all.”, Percival chuckled, as he followed Arthur´s example and ruffled his hair.  
Merlin, shrinking under Percival´s strength, blinked a few times as he finally evaded them. 

Sir Leon, however, bowed down to him a litte, whispering in his ear. “Don´t worry. They think it´s all a joke.”, then he winked at Merlin, ruffling his hair as well, as he followed Arthur and Percival back to their camp.  
Only to tell Gwaine, who was drunk at their camp as usual – how far his stories had traveled. 

Let´s just say – with the knights thinking they knew the truth about these stories, it suddenly made far more sense why none of them had ever figured out Merlin´s secret.  
They would simply blame Gwaine whenever they heard of Emrys.

Merlin – however – was left in the dark and nobody felt responsible enough to explain what the bloody hell was going on.

\--------------------------------

“Meetings are soo boring.”, Gwaine whined, just as the council members were dismissed. They shot him a shocked look. As though he had just insulted them. Outraged, they looked at the king, who was looking through his papers once more. Without acknowledging Gwaine´s misbehavior.  
How could he allow something like this?

“Five minutes, Gwaine. Luckily for you, -”, Arthur looked up with a shrug. “Gwen, Morgana and Mordred heard about your little game and they would love playing with you. Merlin and I have something else to discuss with my advisor.”

With that, Arthur stood up, ignoring Merlin´s confused expression of the mention of a game and went to another room. All while telling Merlin, he should stop “whining like a petty girl and concentrate on the ongoing topics.”

That left only a couple of knights in the room. 

And they didn´t have to wait for long, before two beautiful women and Mordred entered the great hall.  
Mordred may be a knight, but he was not yet part of the inner circle. And he was assigned to protect Morgana at all costs.  
The three of them seemed excited, as though they couldn´t wait to play what Gwaine had suggested before. 

Morgana was the first to sit down. Her black dress and the dark make up that contrasted her pale skin perfectly, just a reminder of her style change. Since Uther died – she seemed surprisingly fond of gothic and witch like accessoires. 

That´s why the pendant around her neck was a pentagram – not a jewel, as it once was. 

Gwaine straightened his back as he saw the new players coming in. As though he was the king, rather than a knight, he nodded at them with a smile.  
“Please, anyone who wants to play, please sit down.”

He motioned to the few open seats that the council members had left. Morgana sat on Arthur´s chair, Gwen to her left, where Merlin had sat before. Mordred sat on the opposite side, right next to Gwaine.  
Gwaine now clapped in his hand and a servant stepped forward to hand him a stack of papers.  
The servant you may recognize. It was George. Somehow, Gwaine seemed to enjoy his weird humor and they went along quite well.  
(Everyone knew the only reason George wasn´t Arthur´s servant was that the king liked spending unnecessary time with Merlin. Or was that a theory as well?)

Like Arthur before, Gwaine stomped the papers on the desk, then he licked his thumb to seperate them from each other.  
He handed two each to the new players, who looked at them in confusion. 

“What´s this about?”, Morgana asked, as she held up her piece of paper. 

“It´s a note sheet. There is so much going on around us and we have trouble keeping track on all that is happening. And for our theories, we need every information we can get.  
The list you see before you suggests rules that have to be included in your theories. Things that we have already established and that are the basics of this game.  
For example, you cannot make a theory like – Merlin has no magic and something else has happened instead. You can however, suggest that he looses his magic at some point and gets it back later.  
You can also not make a character who is stronger than Merlin. Merlin is the strongest sorcerer who has ever existed. That´s a fix point. His weakness is that he has to hide his secret.  
The rumor has already traveled through the five kingdoms. Changing it now will leave them confused. Got it?”

“You made this a cult?”, Morgana asked, unsure whether to be engrossed, worried or impressed. 

“We´ve successfully made Merlin a cryptid. The druids are practically obsessed with it. Also it gets me free drinks at the tavern, but that´s besides the point.  
Also, you cannot tell Merlin any about this.”

“Why not?”, Morgana asked, while Gwen whispered something about Gwaine´s alcohol consume to Mordred. 

“Because it´s funnier that way.”

“But – you stated Leon as an immortal in here and he sits right next to you!”, Morgana raised an eyebrow. 

Leon was startled at that, as he sweat dropped at the mention of §4.1.6.

“Yes, because he looks like he´s going to freak out, every time we mention it. That´s even funnier.”, Gwaine nodded, grabbing for another folder that George handed him as well.  
It was a giant one, full of notes and cards and drawings (some looked as though a five year old had drawn them) and lots and lots of written information.

“These are just some plot lines.”, he said, as he noticed Gwen´s confused stare. 

“You are taking this very serious...”, Mordred muttered. 

“It is my life´s work.”, Gwaine proudly declared.  
“So. Morgana, you go first. What is your relationship with Merlin?”

“Err – we are friends I suppose? He´s my brother´s manservant. He has helped me with my nightmares before... He gave me this arm ring that helps me sleep at night...”, she said with a shrug, showing off a silver arm ring. 

“Ah that is very good, good. We´ll just say it is magic.”, Gwaine wrote something down in his book, while starting a character sheet for Morgana. 

“So, erm – may I ask – can I also have magic in your story?”, Morgana hesitated, before she started asking, stopping Gwaine mid sentence. 

“That depends – how strong are you?”

“How about – I´m really strong but it is Emrys destiny to kill me? And he will, shortly after I discover his true identity?”

Gwaine put down his feather. “Hmm.”, he thought.  
“But Merlin would never kill you – unless...”, he smiled now. “Morgana, would you like to be our main villain? Like – you grew up under Uther and had to hide your identity just like Merlin did?  
We already made Mordred a former druid who has magic as well – the two of you could be working together to kill Arthur in the end.”

“Wait – wait -”, Mordred interrupted them. “You can´t just make Morgana evil? She´s the kindest person I ever met?”

“Unless she grins at you.”, Gwaine laughed at that, Morgana demonstrating her evil smirk, before the knights chuckled as well.  
“Still – I don´t like it. I mean, we all know she is good... People would never believe that! You´re gonna destroy your own credibility!”, Mordred huffed, trying to reason Morgana a good person. 

“And? We killed Lancelot four times last week! Do you see him complaining?”, Gwaine raised an eyebrow. 

At the other end of the table, Lancelot shyly waved at them. 

“Oh and – can my best friend be a dragon?”, Morgana grinned, already enjoying herself as the main villain. 

“Hmm.... but we made the great dragon the last living dragon …”

Leon coughed, as he interluded them. “Remember when we found that place where that dragon egg was supposed to be? That one got destroyed, I know. But what if it didn´t? Someone could have hatched it.”

“Merlin!”, Gwen chimed in, happy she finally had something to add.  
Gwaine nodded at her. “Good! Good! Only a dragon lord would protect and hatch a dragon.  
This is getting better. …”

\----------------------------------------------

It went on like this. Somehow – they destined Mordred to become Arthur´s murderer. Mostly because Mordred complained and refused. 

“Say, Gwaine … what is your role in this game anyway?”, Gwen finally asked. Because, even though Gwaine was directing the tales and spread them like wildfire, he barely ever mentions himself as someone important. 

“Err.. Just myself I guess? A knight who pretends he wasn´t from a royal family because Uther send my father to his death -”

“What?”, Lancelot interrupted him, closing in on them now.  
“You mean, this whole time you could have been a knight and you refused? Even when Uther ordered you get banned from Camelot because he thought you were a peasant?  
Don´t lie, Merlin told me all about it. “

“Well yeah – I didn´t feel Uther was a king worth dying for. Also my father was dead, how could I have proven who I was?  
And I don´t really know my mom. She just gave birth to me and then left. I´m pretty sure my dad never even knew who she was. She probably just gave him a letter. I´m pretty sure he had sex with three different women and he never figured out which one gave birth to me.  
He kept calling her the threesome goddess or something. Said I was connected to destiny and stuff and that one day I shall shape the future to my own will or some crap like that. 

I thought he was crazy then, but when you look at what people believe today -”, he laughed. “Wait – now that I mention it – didn´t that sorceress in that sacred cave call herself the triple goddess? Sounds familiar, right?”

The other knights shared a look. “That were three sorceresses though ...”, Mordred said, eyes squinting suspiciously.  
Gwaine blinked. “Well – she said she was THE triple goddess. Who knows. I was drunk that day. Maybe they just – blended into each other.”

Leon´s eyes twitched.  
As a small headcanon formed in his mind. This time, however, he kept it to himself:  
What if - and yes it does sound random, next to the obvious headcanon they were just presented with. But minds don´t work like that.  
What if Gwaine´s theories become more accurate the more he drinks?  
After all --- Leon had payed more attention to a lot of things recently. And he thought to himself, that maybe, maybe he should count the drinks Gwaine had before he shared another story.  
After all – Gwaine´s theories had proven to be quite correct a couple of times now. Even though he didn´t know about it.

Also – if Gwaine was the son of the triple goddess, which it sounded like just moments prior, maybe he really WAS bound to form destiny to his own will. And maybe that´s why he wasn´t guessing. What if he was deciding on what was real and what wasn´t?

Never the less.... Leon decided that - for a while – the topic should be dropped. It hurt his head.


	4. The new religion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I´m not sure this is as funny to you as it is to me. Anyway: imagine Morgana to become very - very mad

It truly was a weird sight to behold. Farmers, druids, the rich, the poor – all kinds of people. From the kingdom of Essetir, Nemeth and Caerlon -  
They were all visiting the kingdom of Arthur Pendragon: Camelot. This itself was hardly shocking, to be honest. It was the number of people and the wide degree of their status that caught attention.   
They all had just a few things in common: they wanted to see Emrys.   
They had all heard the stories and they had been so captivating that it caused a movement. 

Arthur and his folk were in a slight state of panic.   
They had so much to do with taking refugees and trying to find some places for their visitors that nobody noticed the absence of one important member of the council.   
And I say council, because it was not a knight, as many of you might have expected. But more about that later. 

For those who traveled the streets of Camelot, it truly was a weird sight to behold.   
Because it was hard to distinguish who was of which kingdom. The royals had all dressed in red cloaks and fake armor, cosplaying the knights of the round table.   
While the poor had resolved to old clothes and decided to go as one particular manservant. 

It was some kind of uniform. As today a special event would hold place on one of the biggest fields around the castle. Not that the king knew any of it. Or his servant.  
It was even funnier, because literally everyone was invited. Bandits and druids just as much as kings and queens.   
And they all came for this one occasion. Only Arthur, Merlin and the knights knew nothing of it.   
Only one of them would find out. As he had just had a very pleasant night with a lady far below his status from one of the neighboring kingdoms.   
Of course, this time I do speak of Gwaine. 

Gwaine has created a legend. However - he never expected it to travel this far.   
He never imagined he would create a new religion. 

The lady had invited him to come along to this special event. And never had he seen anyone so excited for anything. So he agreed to follow her. 

What he saw, when they reached the fields, left him breath- and speechless.   
The gathered crowd was so big, they couldn´t all just have arrived here. There were people who had made camp a little outside the center. How many days they had been here, nobody really knew. All Gwaine was certain of was that the refugee problem had started a couple of weeks ago.   
And yet, it was possible to travel right through them. 

In fact – in the center of the crowd, there was a lot of space left, where not a single person stood. Well – maybe that was not entirely correct.   
Twelve – precisely twelve men stood or rather vouched there in a circle. One man in a black cloak standing between them, handing out necklaces.   
Gwaine couldn´t see what the necklaces looked like, but he wasn´t really focusing on that either way. 

No – it were the men who caught him off guard. All of them were dressed like servants … Well, many people here were, but these men and women all wore the exact same clothes. And they were very familiar. As they looked just like what Merlin, Arthur´s manservant wore.   
They all looked comfortable and excited in their position. And their position was quite extraordinary.   
To make this image more clear to you: They all were in the stocks.   
Gwaine´s mouth was wide open at the sight, not sure whether to be scared or amused. 

“What the hell are they doing?”, Gwaine whispered to the young lady who was hanging from his arm. She wore his red cloak.   
But she as well, wore a necklace, much like the ones the men and women in the stocks were just receiving. 

Only now did he take a closer look. It was a coin. Not one of metal, as she was poor. But it was made of wood and covered in a silver like substance. Some of the color was already fading, so you could see the wood underneath, but the symbols were carved deep into the wood. 

On the one side, he could see the druid symbol. A small, long dragon curved around it.   
As Gwaine curiously turned it around, he found the Pendragon crest replicated on it. 

“What is this thing?”, he finally asked, receiving nothing but a smile. 

“This is the coin. You must have heard of the legend of king Arthur and Emrys. They both are – two sides of the same coin. This necklace is a symbol of our faith that one day – magic will be restored in this realm.   
Many have believed king Uther – that magic is evil. But we know it isn´t.   
King Arthur is the great once and future king. And he has been guided by magic. Saved by it, born because of it.   
Tonight we plead to the triple goddess that magic will return to us.”

Gwaine was left stunned. This woman – she must be crazy or – or demented or something. He! Gwaine! Had made this entire story up! But he couldn´t tell her that now, or could he?  
Because these people all believed in that. All the people that were surrounding him. 

“And – what are these people doing in the stocks?”, he asked, clearly confused, as he saw children and men, women and old people come forward with rotten fruits and vegetables and threw them at the people in the stocks. 

“It´s a ritual. Christians get baptized, we throw rotten food at each other.   
It´s because the first time a peasant – as Emrys was one when he came to Camelot – had showed that he was equal to the king and disrespected him as such – this was his punishment.   
Our priest has told us all about it.”

Now, Gwaine looked to the man in black robes who had just stepped out the circle. Reading some kind of gospel. It was a leather bound book in red and black.   
Gwaine felt his face muscles tighten as he recognized that book. And eventually the figure with it in hand.   
“Please give me a second, my love.”, he said and turned away from the curious woman, just to stalk forward to approach the priest. 

“Where on earth did you get that book?”, he asked, forcefully turning the man around. Because this book, this gospel, was the legend of Arthur and Emrys and it was written by Gwaine himself.   
But all hate and confusion was suddenly gone, when he saw that face.

“Agravaine?”

\--------------------------------------

Ah yes, and here is where it gets complicated. You see, we have unconsciously switched the timelines a bit. Which occurrences belong to this one, which to another, how many even exist in the first place? When are we? I can no longer say. 

However, I can tell you the story of Agravaine in this one. As you all know perfectly well, Agravaine is Arthur´s personal advisor, leading him to many misjudgments and selfdoubt. As he is originally a spy for Morgana.   
And he is doing his very best to make sure Arthur fails in his role to become the greatest king Camelot has ever seen. 

You think his little priest act is ironic? Well, you are right. But in hindsight it was all Morgana´s fault for contradicting herself so much. 

Let´s look at how all of this began:

_______________________

“Arthur, we need to talk!”, Agravaine was mad. Very mad. Outraged even, as he slammed a stack of papers on Arthur´s desk.   
“What is this?!”, he asked, demanding an answer from the king. Who just looked at the papers unimpressed. The were in the hall of the council meeting. One had just ended, and Arthur was waiting for the old people to leave, before he himself would stand up as well.   
Just in case, one of them wanted to talk to him about what had been discussed earlier. Which Agravaine was doing right now. 

“This are the sentences spoken to the latest criminals.”, Arthur shrugged, looking up at his uncle, waiting for something. 

“Yes, and ALL of them were here for sorcery! And you have not consulted me in your decision?  
You have let ALL of them go! Your kingdom is weak already. If people find out you refuse to carry out sentences -”, Agravaine took a breath, giving Arthur the chance to interrupt him. 

“These people were told to have healed people. To help grow the plants of the land.   
I fail to see how that was evil?”, Arthur asked, irritated at Agravaines outburst. 

“They were sorcerers!”, Agravaine hissed. “Magic is outlawed!”

“And yet I fail to see how their actions justify such a law.”, Arthur carefully explained. 

“Your father knew -”

“My father is not here. I am your king, now, Agravaine. And I will not have people hanged for helping the people of this kingdom. You are dismissed.”

“But-”

“I said you are dismissed.”, Arthur´s tone was final.

__________________

Of course, Agravaine consulted his queen of many things. However, this one occurrence was nothing he deemed important enough to tell her.   
He knew, she would only be mad. As Arthur wasn´t supposed to act like a good king. Which was why he was trying to keep Arthur from such decisions. 

The deep and dark night hang above the forest. The stars shone a mysterious blue light on the trees and branches, the fallen leafs the hut in which Morgana lived. 

“I cannot wait much longer, Agravaine. I want my throne – and I want it now!”, she hissed, throwing her arms around.   
Her voice was filled with anger and greed. The kind and forgiving and generous soul she once had, corrupted by her hate for Uther, and her cruel lessons from Morgouse.   
She was just as beautiful as always, though. As danger often was. Maybe even more beautiful than before. 

“Yes, milady. I know, but you need patience. The people would not just accept you as their queen.”

“They will. They all will.”, she said, a glint in her eyes, as she stared at the wall of her hut without blinking. 

“Yes, yes … of course they will. But for now, they see you as a threat. They think magic is evil after all. They don´t know you. They don´t know the real you.”, he said with conviction. 

“That will change, when I have taken the throne. People will see that magic is not evil. Uther was. He and Arthur are what threatens the return of magic to this land.   
Only I can bring back the old religion.”, she laughed, manically. 

“The kingdom would be much better of with you as their leader.”, he said and Morgana smiled. 

“Of course it will. I will bring magic back to Camelot. That is my very first priority. I don´t care how, I don´t care about if Arthur lives or not – Magic WILL be back in Camelot. Whatever the cost.”  
And you see, here is where the fact that Agravaine feared to speak his mind defined his doom. 

Because what Morgana said here, contradicted his very own actions from the day before.   
He had ridiculed Arthur of freeing sorcerers, and here was his queen saying that all she cared about was bring magic back to this kingdom. 

And that´s when he decided that, if this was her very first priority, as she had claimed it to be, he would have to support everyone who wanted magic back in the kingdom.   
Not Arthur of course. The people were supposed to want Morgana on the throne.   
When the people supported magic, and Arthur did not, they would start supporting Morgana of their own free will.   
Asking and rebelling to get her on the throne. 

In the darkest night, Agravaine sneaked through the castle, and stole the Gospel. 

He knew of Gwaine´s little hobby. He had not been able to read the word yet, however, now he had the chance.  
And so, Agravaine used this Gospel to spread his very own version of what had happened with Emrys.   
He told the folks people about a king who despised and outlawed magic and his son, who supported these claims. He told them of the good Morgana and how she had always defended the town in need. 

He told them of the many executions … not knowing that the people whom he told these stories had already heard all of this – and more.   
Word spread about a man who was reading the word of the triple goddess.   
They believed this was Morgana before she turned evil. And that she had good reason to be. But they all believed Emrys had been right to poison her. They altered the stories themselves. Because Emrys was good.   
This was one of the basics of this story. A ground rule. A fix point. Gwaine had made that clear.

Agravaine knew nothing of how far the word of Gwaine had spread oh so long ago already.   
He knew nothing of it. He thought all the rumors he heard in the tavern were his own work. Never once did he think Gwaine´s work was stronger than his own.   
Agravaine´s self confidence was what blinded him. 

He made it a religion. Telling people magic would come back to this land.   
And they believed him. But they thought he meant Emrys. Not Morgana. He became their priest. He cabbaged them in the stocks and gave them the necklaces. 

On one side was the symbol of the druids, who were aligned with Morgana, the other bore the Pendragon crest. But not in gold, like Arthur. But Silver, for Morgana Pendragon. 

Agravaine was a fool. 

His work allied the five kingdoms, not just between kings, but for the people as well. His work made magic popular once more. He helped take the fear of people´s mind.   
And he helped people support Arthur. Swear their loyalty on him and Emrys. 

However, when Gwaine reported his findings back to Arthur, Agravaine was immediately dismissed as his personal advisor. As he had spread the rumors Gwaine had come up with. And greatly contradicted himself, when he was advising Arthur against magic, but uniting the lands to bring it back.  
He had caused an uproar against the ban on magic.   
And since Arthur listened to his folk. Their needs and their wishes and he wanted to keep peace between the lands of Albion, he had no choice but to lift the ban on magic. 

However, Arthur had a few problems with that:

“I can´t just lift the ban on magic and invite sorcerers into this kingdom!”, Arthur debated with Gwaine.   
“YOU made all of that up! I was with you when you did! This game has gotten way too far! I don´t know what Agravaine was trying to achieve with this, but when the ban is lifted, all kind of sorcerers will be back in Camelot.   
You know how dangerous that is!”

“Maybe you just need a court sorcerer? One whom you trust?”

Arthur laughed, shaking his head in disapproval.   
“I can´t just get a court sorcerer! And a sorcerer whom I would trust? How rare is that?”

“Not to mention that they are all expecting you to make a certain someone your court sorcerer.”, Gwaine mumbled, causing Arthur to stop his pacing. 

“Are you kidding me!”, Arthur stared at him and his face stated exactly what he had just said. 

“What? They believe Emrys is at your side. The strongest sorcerer to ever have lived. You can´t just take a random sorcerer and make him your advisor. It HAS to be him. They expect that of you.”

“But Merlin is no sorcerer!”

“Yeah, but they don´t know that.”, Gwaine barely managed to contain his laughter now. 

“You´ve got to be kidding.”, Arthur facepalmed.   
“What if we get attacked?”. Arthur complained, throwing his arms up, trying to fight his urge to just punch a wall. 

“You remember Lord Hemming or whoever that guy was? Merlin´s reputation will definitely protect us.”

Arthur was whining now, taking deep breaths to calm himself. 

“MERLIN!”, Arthur shouted. 

Mere seconds later, Merlin stormed in. He had been standing in front of the door, as he was not allowed to listen in on their latest conversation. And Arthur had asked him to wait outside. 

“Yes, Sire?”, he asked, glancing between Arthur and Gwaine. Not expecting to find Arthur looking as though he regretted all of his life decisions, while Gwaine did as if this was the best day of his life. 

“….”

“You want me to be your WHAT now?”


	5. J.K.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is kinda short?  
> And also not as funny as before. I feel like I´m getting more and more serious... Anyway. I hope you enjoy this crap XD

Morgana was furious. Of course. First of all: her most loyal dog had just been fired as the royal advisor. Which left her without an influence in Camelot.   
Then, as she had found out through a few semi reliable sources, Agravaine had used rumors to unite the kingdom in favor of Emrys.   
With that and the lift of the ban of magic in reach, people would now turn even more to Arthur. Which left her deprived of the only allies she had: magical creatures and sorcerers. It made her look like the villain (which she was, she was just too blind to see it).  
And to top it all of, everyone now knew that Emrys was destined to be her doom. 

However, there was one good thing that had come from all this.   
She now knew who Emrys was. And she already had a plan to take him out for good.   
After all, who would support a sorcerer without magic?

\------------------------------------

“Merlin, I know this may be sudden and quite confusing to you, but -”, Arthur took a deep breath, not even looking at his manservant.   
Well you see – if you had hidden – like – if you ever had the slightest talent for magic – if you somehow were a sorcerer all along – we´d be in a lot less trouble.   
Because I am in need of a court sorcerer right now. And it turns out – well -  
The people will not accept anyone but you – as -  
So I´m asking you – would you like to be -”

“You want me to be your WHAT now?”, Merlin stared at Arthur – eyes wide.   
No no no no no. This cannot be happening. Not NOW! Of all times, you moron of a royal prat! 

I assume you can all guess what had happened the day before. But just to be clear:  
Let´s rewind.

As said before, the days had been stressful lately. Especially for the servants. More specifically, it´s been hell for Merlin.   
And there he had already counted himself lucky for the weird lack of assassins lately.   
Usually he took out at least two per week. The past month, he had exactly one case of assassin to take care of.   
And that was this morning. The assassin had been a young sorceress. Which was what made it a bit complicated. Apparently she was a friend of Mordred´s. One who refused to believe that Arthur was a good man at heart.

Which is why Merlin had all hands full to convince Mordred that they had to get her out of Camelot. Or else she might be burned at the pyre.   
Or hanged. Or worse. Apparently she had killed a few guards when she had infiltrated the castle. 

Because of that, Merlin had knocked her out and hidden her in the stables. Only then he had send another servant to go fetch Mordred.   
Mordred was a mix of emotions. Happy to see his love, frightened for her safety and conflicted because of her actions.   
So he agreed to help Merlin get her to a near druid camp somewhere in the woods. 

When she awoke, Mordred promised her not to leave her alone. Practically ordering Merlin to go back to Camelot. They would only ever return when Arthur had changed his mind about magic.   
Mordred would make sure she would not try to harm the king again.   
Merlin, conflicted if he could let him go, made Mordred swear an unbreakable swear that he would not try in any way to kill Arthur. It was a pinky promise.  
But Mordred was convinced he would die, would he ever try to break it.  
Merlin knew of the prophecy. He was definitely not going to take chances. 

Barely anyone noticed that he had returned. Well that´s a lie.  
Gwaine and Lancelot immediately noticed him and invited him to a night at the tavern.   
Ok, maybe Merlin should have declined, since there were a few chores he had yet to take care of, but he decided after what happened with Mordred, he deserved a little breather. 

For once in his life, Merlin was ACTUALLY at the tavern. With the knights, minus Arthur and a very – very drunk Gwaine.   
Who was apparently making up some sort of story that people were utterly fascinated by. 

“He´s doing that all the time now. The town never gets enough from it.”, Lancelot had explained to Merlin, as he bought him his first drink.   
(They had only been here for like, five minutes, but Gwaine was completely wasted already.)

“What does he talk about?”, Merlin asked, feeling Lancelot´s grip on his shoulder tighten.   
“Maybe you should listen to him yourself.”, he sighed, clearly nervous. 

Merlin raised an eyebrow at him, before he made his way over the dance floor to sit next to Gwaine.   
… 

“And then- “, Gwaine moved his hands in a mysterious, yet graceful way as he looked between them.   
“it came out the cupboard. In seconds it changed it´s entire appearance and became what Neville feared the most!  
It looked just like Severus Snape!”

The people around him started chuckling. 

“And remember, Professor Lupin had just whispered to him how to make fun of it. So when Neville said, Ridiculous, Snape now wore a red dress and an eagle on his head. It was the fashion style of Neville´s grandmother!”  
Gwaine grinned, as the people around him started roaring with laughter.   
Maybe the entire thing was just funnier when you were drunk and up to enjoy yourself, but Gwaine´s fans seemed to love it.   
They ate up his words like they were starving of boredom. 

“Seriously, Gwaine?”, Leon – who was sitting on the other side, also next to Gwaine shook his head. But he was grinning as well. 

“Trust me Gwaine, one of these days my stories will all become famous!”, Gwaine grinned and Leon sighed a deep chuckled sigh.   
“Yeah right. Not this time you don´t.”

\---------------

It was somewhere in December 1997, when Leon´s phone rang.   
“LEON!”, he heard Merlin scream at him so loudly, he had to hold his phone a few inches away from his ear.   
“Merlin? Is that you?! You´re alive?  
But how?   
Are you too - what?”  
Leon had not seen Merlin since the day Arthur died. But that was hundreds of years ago...”

“Yes, yes. I know. Emrys means immortal, remember?   
That´s not why I´m calling. I think I´ve found Gwaine!”

Leon sat up from the couch in his small apartment now. “What are you talking about? Gwaine has been dead for how long now? We were at his funeral, remember? I´ve never seen so many sad women before...”

“No, not HIM him. HER him. Er. How do I explain this. I think she´s his reincarnation...”

“Holy – where are you. I´m coming over.”

\----------------------

A.N.:// dafuq did this come from.... ? XD

\-------------------------

Anyway, the night continued like this. Eventually they all got drunk. Especially Merlin. He barely remembered being dragged home into Gaius chambers by Lancelot.   
He didn´t remember falling asleep.   
However, he did remember being slapped awake. By something very – slimy. 

With a scream and struggle, he sat up as he realized this wasn´t someone slapping him. It was something attacking him.   
Gaius must have heard somehow, as he ran into Merlin´s chambers, armored with a frying pan.   
Hitting onto the monstrous snail and hitting it onto the next wall.   
(He also accidentally hit Merlin a couple of times, but Merlin was too delirious to notice).

“Thank´s Gaius.”, Merlin heaved out his thanks, as he finally managed to relax. 

“Looks like Morgana has somehow figured out who you are.”, Gaius concluded, while the giant thing fell into itself, seemingly dying. 

Merlin groaned, leaning back in his bed, as he felt himself grow even more tired. 

“Lucky she failed. Or else Camelot would now be defenseless.”, Gaius sighed a sigh of relief, as Merlin closed his eyes. Stretching out his hand to let the glass of water on his night stand come to him. His throat felt dry like sand paper. 

Nothing happened. 

Merlin looked up, glancing between the glass and his great uncle.   
“I don´t think she failed.”, he whispered, before he registered what he said. And broke out in a slight panic. “My magic – it´s gone.”

\---------------------------

“Actually, Arthur. I do have magic. But Morgana send a giant snail to take it from me. So now, conveniently when you ask me to become your court sorcerer, I can´t prove it to you. You just need to believe me I am the strongest and most powerful warlock and dragon lord who has ever walked the earth.”

Yeah no. Merlin couldn´t possibly say that. 

So he did, what had always done. He kept quiet, hoping that Morgana wouldn´t have the chance to attack anytime soon. Merlin closed his eyes, as Arthur tried to explain to him how to behave when he would be promoted from his position as manservant to court sorcerer.   
And didn´t even wait to complain that he would now have to resolve to George as his manservant. 

“Honestly, I´d rather dress myself than listen to his horrible jokes.”, Arthur murmured, as a serving girl and seamstress walked around his best friend, measuring his size. 

“I fear the day that you dress yourself will be the day Gwaine turns out to be a half god.”

They were in Arthur´s chambers now and Merlin really, really wanted to scream. He felt so helpless, so weak and useless. How was he supposed to protect Arthur without magic?  
How could he become court sorcerer without it?  
How did Arthur not care about any of this? He chuckled! Even though Merlin´s humor felt so dry. 

Since when was the ban on magic lifted anyway? Half a day ago, there were two men accused of sorcery. Sure Arthur sentenced them to a year in the dungeons, instead of killing them at the pyre.   
But just then, magic was still outlawed!   
When had any of this changed? In the past couple of hours no less. 

And since when was the prophecy (Arthur had just spend the last two hours to gave him the basics of Gwaine´s little legend) common knowledge in the kingdom? And why was Arthur so stubbornly sure that none of it was true?

Merlin could cry as he failed to connect the dots. 

“So, all court sorcerer had a robe. But that´s just were the traditions began. You have a lot to learn, Merlin. You sure you can keep up with all this?”

“What do you mean that´s were the traditions began? What traditions? Magic was outlawed! I never heard of a court sorcerer before!”

“Yes, I know, Merlin. I mean, before my father became king. My grandfather did have a court sorcerer. Her name was Nimueh. She betrayed my father. And killed my mother.   
However, I do know the traditions that need to be uphold when a court sorcerer is established.   
And – we will somehow have to fake that you can do magic.”

Arthur sighed as he finished explaining.

,I wouldn´t need to fake it, if Morgana wasn´t such a selfish bitch.´, Merlin thought to himself. 

“I was told that the court sorcerer had to go and find a cave in the valley of kings. Somehow they would be shown their purpose there. It´s said that magic was born there. But so far, none of my ancestors wrote were to find it. If we did, of course you can just go in there and then come out after some time. I´m sure many of the sorcerers back then had done that. To sound more mystical.”

Merlin paled, then a smiled formed on his lips, as he realized what Arthur was just proposing. To go to the birthplace of magic? Maybe that would bring his magic back?

“What are you grinning at? I just told you we have no idea where it is.”, Arthur squished his eyebrows, as he tried to read Merlin´s mood. 

“Something´s different about you....”, Arthur stepped forward to inspect his face a bit more closely.   
“It´s something in your eyes – has – changed.”, he muttered, just when Merlin released a breath and Arthur flinched backwards.   
“God, have you been at the tavern again?! You stink. I really need to talk to Gaius about this, holy -”

Merlin shrugged, irritated at the question. Grinning a crooked smile. 

“I can´t work with you like this. Go, go. Your robe will be done by tomorrow. And I promise it´s going to be a loong day. I´ve asked Lancelot to help you prepare your sorcery performance.  
And Gwaine has promised me that he will show you the annual chicken dance.”

“The what now?”, Merlin looked at his king – stunned. 

Arthur sighed. “I know. I thought he made it up too, but Gaius looked it up. Apparently you will have to wear this -”, Arthur threw over a green dress. One that Morgana would have worn in old times.   
“And dance the annual chicken dance.” Arthur grinned. He was obviously amused by those old traditions. Rather than annoyed. 

“Why?”, Merlin hissed, feeling both demotivated and embarrassed.   
“I don´t know. But Leon insisted on it. He´s weirdly obsessed to see you in a dress.”, Arthur blinked a few times as he realized just what he had said. 

“That´s not what I mean. Why is it green? Why is it not black or something?”

“To represent your mood?”

“Do we have one darker than black?”

“Very funny, Merlin.”, Arthur said with a stern expression as he left the room. But Merlin could hear him laughing outside anyway.


	6. chicken dance ritual

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so ... this chapter was sooo much fun and I think I found a loophole between my dots!

Morgana was certain she had succeded. That was the last information Agravaine, now former royal adviser, had been able to gift her with.   
Merlin was powerless. But the towns people still spoke of the announcement of the court sorcerer. How could that be? Was Arthur that trusting that Merlin´s magic would return?

Had they found a way?

They spoke of the old tradition to let him go to the crystal cave. The place where magic was born, as they said. Perhaps he thought he would get his powers back there?  
Morgana was furious. But knowing of their plan now, she knew precisely what had to be done. 

She would be waiting for Emrys. In his precious cave. He will not see her coming. And he will never get what he is searching for. 

\-------------------------

“We honor thee, sorcerer of sorcerers. Man of magic and wonders. Immortal creature, stuck with the living …  
We shall shower you in our peasant blood”, the man threw a cup of red liquid in Merlin´s face.   
Who had to stand and indure all of this bullshit without changing his expression.   
The knights were cackling behind him, barely containing their laughter, as Sir Gwaine – or let´s say the newly announced high priest of the religion of Emrys -  
tried to drink the last sip out of the golden goblet. 

“That is vine, isn´t it.”, Merlin huffed, as Gwaine cut an apple in small slices. 

“Psst. Don´t ruin it.”, Gwaine hushed him, starting to apply his apples to Merlin´s face.   
Merlin was long passed done with this shit.   
He was, indeed, wearing the green dress Arthur had sorted for this day especially.   
It wasn´t very fitting and hard to walk in. And all the added chicken feathers, colored in yellow and orange, made him sneeze into Gwaine´s face. 

Gwaine just wiped his face with a grin, before grabbing for a dark blue paste. It was supposed to look like blood. But Merlin knew it was just mud with a lot extra blue berries. 

“Gwaine, don´t you dare!”

“I have to! The people are watching!”, he said, pointing his thumb at the mass of witnesses behind them.   
“I hate you.”

“You shall be salved in the name of the royal knights and his majesty, the king and his ancestors.   
Blue blood shall be your ally and your responsibility.”, Gwaine grabbed for Merlin´s hair, covering it completely in the blue muddy substance. 

Merlin could feel the cold grime running down his neck and he knew, his skin would be blue stained for weeks to come. 

“And now, you are bound to your king, young sorcerer. You shall sing him the long lost song of the knights of Huhn (German for chicken XD)) and dance the traditional dance that shall demonstrate your devotion to your king.”

Gwaine stepped back from Merlin, bowing once, as though he wasn´t totally humiliating his best friend just now.   
They could hear sniffles and excited chuckles from the audience. 

Behind them on the platform was Arthur. He sat on a gold and silver peddled throne, speaking to Gaius quietly. He looked the most contained, but someone who knew him would know that he could barely hold himself together. 

“Is this really what was written in the books?”, Arthur asked.   
Gaius sighed. “I´m afraid, it is.”  
“Really? Because I´m 90% certain Gwaine made all this up.   
“Due all respect, my lord. I have seen Nimueh perform the very same dance before.”, Gaius insisted, laughing at the memory. 

“Just because it happened before, doesn´t mean Gwaine didn´t make it up.”, they heard Leon mumble to himself.   
But before they could question him, Merlin had already started to jump around. Gackering and cackling and bauking aloud as he followed the precise steps, Percival had showed him the day before. 

“I can´t believe he´s actually doing it.”, Lancelot shook his head. 

“Well, he gets a promotion because of it.”, Leon whispered back at him. They both were standing a little closer to Arthur than the rest of the knights. 

“Yes, but like – after everything he´s been through, after all the decisions and sacrifices he´s made for Camelot – this is by far the worst.”

Leon nodded. “I know what you mean. Poor Merlin.”

Lancelot´s head tilted as he looked at Leon in confusion, while Arthur and Gaius were both too distracted to listen to their conversation.   
“You mean, you know all of what happened?”, Lancelot asked, eyes wide, as Leon nodded. 

“It´s a long story.”, Leon mysteriously added. But again, Lancelot had no time to question, as fireworks exploded in the sky and Arthur winked him over. 

While Merlin, his dress severely burned (Merlin he had to set himself on fire), tried to crawl forward, hands grabbed for him to be carry him over the crowd to his horse. 

“I hope everything is prepared for his magic show?”, Arthur asked, slightly worried, as Lancelot paled.   
“I´m sure he has?”, Lancelot asked, receiving a confused look by Arthur.   
“I told Merlin to ask you for help. Because you know – he´s not a sorcerer. You DO have something planned, right?”, Arthur asked, repeating himself. 

Lancelot blinked. “He´s not asked me for anything, Sire?! I´m sure he has – something – prepared?”  
Internally Lancelot was screaming at Arthur: “What do you mean, prepare something? Merlin is the strongest sorcerer to ever live?! Surely you know that?! Surely that´s why you just make him your court sorcerer?  
What do you mean MERLIN IS NO SORCERER?”

He coughed instead. 

If Merlin still hadn´t told Arthur – even in this situation…. then something was absolutely and terribly wrong.   
Lancelot knew that.   
He exchanged a worried look with Leon. But the man was already gone with other knights. Gwaine, in full priest outfit, walked in front of them. Listening to fake prayer and laughing along with them. 

Arthur just stared at the abandoned knight.   
“Oh god we´re doomed.”, Arthur said with such conviction, for a second Lancelot believed it. And he felt a lump forming in his throat. 

“Don´t worry, Sire. It´s Merlin, he´ll figure something out.”, but Arthur only shook his head as he shared a pointed look with Lancelot.  
“That´s what worries me.”

\---------------------------------------

“And now -”, Gwain´s voice was to be heard loud and clear in the dawning sky (ther road from Camelot to the valley of kings was long, after all. They had to make camp in between and Merlin had had the time to wash himself in a river somewhere. He wasn´t as bug loved as he had been when they started. 

“Before we let Merlin enter the Crystal cave, all by himself -”

“Seriously, how did they even find the cave?”, Arthur whispered to Leon who just chuckled. “Maybe it´s just a random cave.”, Leon lied and shook his head. He was just here to make sure nobody entered the cave except for Merlin.   
He really didn´t want to spend another century alone with Kilgarrah. Let alone wish that crucial fate to anyone else. Believe me, if a dragon starts to riddle, he never, NEVER stops.   
Half the time Leon had just put something in his ears so he wouldn´t have to think about destiny and all that useless crap. 

He really regretted telling Kilgarrah all about the once and future king. He was bored okay? And the dragon was a good listener.... at times.   
Leon had never cursed someone before, but if looks could kill, Gwaine would have been dead a long time ago. 

“Our dear king must give him the official pass.”, Gwaine concluded, happily listening to the excited whisper of the audience. 

“Er, I have to give the what now?”, Arthur asked baffled. THAT he had never heard of. What was an official pass? He didn´t have anything like that.   
Gwaine was holding back laughter now, as Arthur stepped forward, hesitantly of course. Merlin was already standing right in front of the cave.   
He wore his usual clothing again – thankfully. But he looked just as confused as the rest of the knights. 

Then Gwaine whispered something in Arthur´s ear.   
As soon as he finished, Arthur´s head slowly turned at him. Eyes wide like a crazy person, as he stared at him in agony. As though his ghost had left his very skin, he asked, hoping that he had misheard.   
“I have to what now?”, Arthur asked?

“Come on, Arthur, we don´t have all day. Besides, I bet Leon has waited centuries for this. Go on, hop hop.”, Gwaine made shooing gestures at Arthur, as the king approached his soon to be former manservant. 

“Just so you know, Merlin...”, he gulped, as he finally stood right in front of Merlin. It was Arthur who looked startled, still and yet Merlin´s face seemed to ashen by the second, as Arthur took his hands in his.   
“This means absolutely nothing!”, he whispered in Merlin´s ear, so no one would hear it but him. 

The kiss lasted precisely 32.51 seconds.   
According to Gwaine, they needed at least 25, but since neither of them had a watch, Arthur supposed longer was probably favorable. 

He felt Merlin struggling against him at first, as he realized what was happening. But after he seemed to realize what and why Arthur was doing this, he visibly relaxed into him.  
And Arthur truly thought, this could have been a lot worse. Until he heard the cooing and the awws and not to mention the laughter of his men, and then he noticed this was the worst day of his life, as he finally let go of his baffled servant.

Merlin just blinked at him, his shoulder still being squished by Arthur´s armored hands.   
“Forget this ever happened!”, Arthur hissed through gritted teeth and Merlin nodded, about to either cry or laugh. Maybe both. Arthur wasn´t sure. He didn´t understand snort. 

“I can´t believe he actually did it!”, Gwaine laughed, shaking his head, as Percival handed him 5 silver coins with a gruffling sound. 

“I mean, that wasn´t even written in the rules. I just made that up.”, he laughed, loud enough for Arthur to hear him and the king swore – Gwaine was going to be the main villain from now on.   
Morgana could not even compare. 

“And I really can´t hide in that cave with you?”, Arthur asked Merlin, absolutely ashamed for believing Gwaine on such short notice. He KNEW he hadn´t seen that one written anywhere in rules. 

He could even hear Gwen, his own freaking WIFE, wipe a tear away while laughing. Barely bringing out a : “I always knew this day would come.”  
Why did he marry her again?

Arthur absolutely hated them. All of them. 

He was held back by Leon´s grip now, who sternly looked his king in his eyes.   
“You will certainly not, and I repeat, NOT go in there!”, he said, before heaving Arthur on his shoulder and moving into a safe distance, as Merlin just wove at him in confusion. 

Moments later, he was gone into the cave. 

\----------------------------------------------

The knights waited. And waited. Soon the witnesses, so to speak the townspeople had started a few small fires, burning sausages and bread on them.   
Some had made camp, napping in small tents next to the cave.   
Miraculously nobody had dared to enter the cave – where – loud noises where to be heard.

Arthur was sitting in front of the cave, contemplating whether or not he was supposed to enter or not. It was Leon´s watchful eye that stopped him from doing that.   
Speaking of which, since when was Leon wearing an eyepatch? Two month´s ago, there was nothing there, today a long old scar ran underneath it.   
Had he lost his eye? But the wound looked old. As though it had been there for ages....

Arthur should probably ask him sometime. 

Arthur chewed on a slice of bread he had brough with him now. He tried to avoid the knights, who were discussing some very random stories once more.   
Were they playing connecting the dots again? Arthur hated the game. The entire game was about roasting him about how “clueless” he was. 

Why was Merlin taking so much time in there?   
Arthur was getting giddy. He couldn´t help but worry for him. Merlin wouldn´t just go in a cave and – not return – unless something had happened. And Merlin wasn´t a knight. He wasn´t strong or a good fighter or anything like that. 

It was like leaving a baby in a bandit camp. You just – wouldn´t do that. You´d never know whether they´d kill it or raise it for evil.   
Then again – Merlin was not a baby. And he certainly was not evil. 

Oh right, maybe the preparations for his magic trick took longer than what Merlin had predicted?  
RIGHT! That´s what he must have been doing in there. 

And then – right as that thought was forming in his mind, a loud explosion was to be heard, as the cave´s walls started crumbling under the force of who – or whatever was in that cave. 

Leon immediately sprinted over, to get Arthur out of there, while the explosion woke the citizens of the town. 

That was when a woman stumbled out the cave. She was crouching in shock, her beautiful green dress being torn by the sturdy ground and the lack of her shoes.   
Her hair was black and floated neatly around her neck. 

“Merlin, what is – what´s going on? Since when have you -?”, she crawled backwards now, as she had fallen to the ground. 

In front of her, Merlin – poor innocent Merlin stepped out. Eyes glowing a bright yellow, as he held his hand up in front of himself. Small explosions surrounding Morgana, as he spoke to her with the darkest voice Arthur had ever heard him speak:  
“You won´t fool me any longer, Morgana. Your reign will end here and now!”, he said darkly, but Morgana crossed her arms in front of her in fear. 

Arthur and the knights stood there frozen in shock. As they made their own conclusions:  
Morgana wasn´t looking like she was lying – or evil in any kind. Or like she knew what was going on.   
And Merlin -   
Merlin was using magic to fight her of.

It was as though they had switched positions....


	7. The switch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a lot less funny, I assume. Somehow this story makes a lot more sense then I intended it to have. And I like playing with the concept.   
> Not my fault, it just does whatever it wants. I have literally no destination. This whole thing is such a ride and I enjoy every step of it :)

It had been a normal day for Morgana Pendragon. Okay maybe her day was a bit surreal. Screw that – he day went absolutely weird.

Since Merlin had confessed his magic to her, she had felt so much more at ease.   
How nice it was to have someone in the castle who could relate to her struggles.   
At some point, when Arthur knighted the druid boy Mordred, suddenly they were three. 

And of course, how could she forget – the new religion was created.   
Morgana, Merlin and Mordred had made fun of it at first. As they had heard at least four different versions how Lancelot died. Did I mention Lancelot was allowed as a guest to their meetings?  
They made fun of the fact that all Magic users of the Prophecy started with M. Maybe Gwaine had thought M= Magic, so obviously they had to be the main protagonists. And Arthur only had a role since he became king.   
And it was nice to make fun of him sometimes.

But the first time they had heard Gwaine´s version of Merlin being Emrys, Merlin had paled. And stared at Morgana. And then he told her everything.   
Everything the dragon told him. Her role in the prophecy, Mordred´s role. EVERYTHING. 

It had been a long night. Filled with fear and doubts and confusion. Apparently Merlin had tried to change the future quite a couple of times before and he had failed every time.   
Never had she seen Merlin so worried. So – afraid.

All that happened not so long ago. Just before Arthur was suddenly forced to bring magic back to this realm.   
It was Morgana´s idea to tell him then. Well – Merlin wasn´t ready just yet, but he promised to at least vauge for her in front of Arthur.   
She confessed to him her magic. Arthur had been shocked at first, disbelieving. But when she showed him what she was capable of by letting Mordred´s sword fly through the air, Arthur seemed to shrink on his throne. 

“I mean no harm to Camelot! You know me! My dreams, you know I have nightmares! Those are visions. I have no control over them. Not yet anyway.”, she was shivering now. At least Arthur was listening. With wide eyes of course. But he hasn´t condemned her yet. Uther wouldn´t hesitate. But Uther was dead. Morgouse had succeeded to kill him.   
No one had seen the priestess ever since. 

“I have tried, Arthur!”, Morgana pleaded now. But Merlin put his hand on her shoulder, smiling softly at her as he tried to calm her down. 

“Arthur, please. What Morgana says is true. She had no choice in the matter. Magic had choosen her. She was not corrupted by it. You MUST give her a chance. I beg of you.”, Merlin said. Morgana shot him a grateful smile. Even though she knew he must be struggling with himself.   
She knew a part of him was still doubting her.   
She could see why. However, it would be cruel to blame him for that.   
He´s been living with all this fear for years now. And it was his greatest fear to make Arthur feel betrayed. 

Arthur already looked as though he wanted to punch a wall of something.   
“And how can you be so sure about that?”, he threw his hands up in his face, waiting to be attacked by Morgana.   
“Because -”, Merlin turned to the guards in the room. All of them were still, but they eyed Morgana suspiciously. They were putting her in a very delicate and vulnerable spot. She was at the verge of tears. And Morgana didn´t cry easily. 

“Sire, I too have magic.”, Mordred kneeled down now. “You might even remember me. We have met before. You saved my life when I was a child. I am the druid boy you helped escape.”

Arthur stood up now, obviously surprised. 

“You – too...”, he said, turning his back on them as he tried to contain how overwhelmed he was. 

“Wait ….”, he stopped as he turned around again. Sighing in defeat.   
“And let me guess, you -”, he pointed at Merlin who flinched now. “You must be Emrys then.”, he said, waiting for Merlin to nod. 

And then he started laughing. Loudly, as though he was relieved.   
“So, you ARE making fun of me.”, he shook his head, a grin spreading on his face and the guards as well started laughing now. 

“What?”, Merlin asked, shocked, as he exchanged looks with his two friends. 

“I mean, I get it. And your stunt with the sword? Genius. How did you do it?”, he stopped in front of them now. A humorous glint playing in his eyes.   
“But I wasn´the one who made up the new religion. If you want to prank someone, try Gwaine. He deserves it. He has started telling people how I will die at Camlann. We´re not even at war?”, he chuckled. 

“Sire -”  
“It´s enough Merlin. But Morgana, if you want, you can play my court sorcerer.   
The people demand magic back in the kingdom. They won´t believe when I tell them Merlin isn´t their savior, because they think I´m just oblivious.”

Morgana opened her mouth to say something. But Arthur shushed her with a wink of his hand. 

“I´ve had sorcerers and druids come here, vouching for him. They all said they would lay their life down for him. Just so I will accept magic. Can you believe that?  
They turned themselves in willingly to protect my manservant. Gwaine´s work surely is something else.   
So – since they showed loyalty and goodness, I´m willing to give magic a chance. In order to do that I need someone whom they believe is a powerful sorcerer.   
Or sorceress for that matter. And I´d feel more at ease if it is someone I trust.   
So, Morgana – what do you think?”

Morgana´s mouth was wide open. She turned to Merlin, stunned. Merlin sighed. How wasn´t he surprised?  
In fact. Merlin was grinning and shaking his head as though he should have seen this coming. 

“I would think that´s an honor.”, she said, hardly believing what was happening. 

“Great. Gwaine is already preparing his speech. Merlin, you can go and accompany Leon. He´s trying to figure out where the crystal cave is.   
Apparently that one is needed for the ritual. You are free to go.”

“How can he be this oblivious?”, Mordred´s voice echoed in Merlin´s and Morgana´s head. They looked at him, nodding, before snorting.   
Arthur raised an eyebrow at them. But he smiled as well. Thinking he got the joke. 

_____________________

And this how Morgana had ended up in the crystal cave. Accompanied by feasting and singing people. She would have imagined the ritual to me more embarrassing, actually.   
Then again, how was Gwaine supposed to alter the old rules of establishing a court sorcerer?

For some reason, however, Leon seemed mad that it wasn´t Merlin who was made the court sorcerer. He was so enraged that Morgana was entering the cave, the other knights had to physically hold him back.   
Funny, had he always worn an eyepatch?

Unsure of what she was supposed to do in the crystal cave, Morgana looked around, wondering about how beautiful these crystals were. The illustrations of the book Merlin had given her looked nothing compared to their true beauty.   
She smiled. She felt the magic tug at her own, embracing her with kindness. 

“I should have known you´d be here.”, a voice called out to her.   
She knew that voice. But she had never heard it be this – cold. Stern. Angry. It was bewildering. 

“Merlin? Why are you here? Has Leon not stopped you from entering?”  
It was true. Before her stood Merlin. Eyes knitted at her in suspicion, as he eyed her green dress. His look was full of hatred, shame, fear. He was breathing heavily. 

“You won´t stop me! I know what you did. But you´re too late. I have my magic back. You cannot defeat me! No matter what you try.”, he steadied himself, waiting for Morgana to attack.   
Morgana blinked, and opened her mouth in confusion. “You lost your magic?”, she asked, terrified. 

Merlin stared at her, taken aback. Her voice was too kind. Too concerned. She sounded like the old Morgana.   
And she wasn´t attacking him.   
Not yet, his mind told him. Wait for it. 

“Is that why you´re here? Because this is were magic was born? Can I help somehow?”, she asked, trying to ignore that Merlin was backing away from her as she hurried over.   
She stopped, around five feet apart from him. He was being hostile. Like a cornered animal. Was he – afraid of her?

“What is your plan, Morgana!”, he spit out her name like it was poison. 

“Merlin, please, what happened? I can help you!”, she said, almost pleading. 

“YOU happened.”, he said angrily, his eyes glowing with anger. And suddenly, a harsh gold entered his irises as he pointed his hand at her. 

Morgana´s eyes widened. Merlin was attacking her. She stormed out the cave. Terrified of her friend. Stumbling over rocks and cutting her dress on the crystals, she felt her naked feet cutting on the stones on the ground.   
She fell, as the ground was uneven, crouching out as she heard the explosion.   
“Merlin! What´s going on?! Since when have you -?”   
Turned evil was what she was going to say. 

But she had no time for that as she coughed on raw earth that now filled her lungs. 

“You won´t fool me any longer, Morgana. Your reign will end here and now!”, Merlin stood above her, his eyes wide with gold and anger.   
“Merlin, please!”, she whimpered. She barely had any control over her magic. She couldn´t defend herself. And attacking Merlin? Never.  
“Please, we´re friends, are we not?”, she asked, arms crossed over her head as she closed her eyes. Waiting for the last blow. 

…

But it never came. Merlin was heaving above her. Arm stretched out, eyes still gold, but he looked torn. He had to kill her. He had to. But – something told him this was too easy.   
Morgana wasn´t even defending herself.   
Then again, she was a priestess of the old religion. She shouldn´t be afraid to die. And yet she looked at him horrified for her life. 

Merlin let his hand sink. 

At the same time, the knights raised their weapons. They surrounded Morgana, raising their swords above her.   
Arthur, however, was torn between them. 

Something was wrong. Totally wrong.   
Slowly, he stepped forward. What had happened in the cave? Merlin had magic – this couldn´t be.   
Merlin was no sorcerer. And why was Morgana there in the first place?  
Why was she so terrified? Usually she would have killed half of his men with one wave of her hand.   
And how could she call Merlin a friend? After she betrayed all of them. 

“Admit defeat!”, he said slowly, waiting for Morgana to laugh at him. But she sighed in relief.   
“Yes, yes. I give up! Thank you!”, she repeated over and over again, as the guards and knights slowly sunk their swords. Each of them scared for their life´s. But also confused to no avail.

“Seize them.”, Arthur said slowly, looking at Merlin as well. “Both of them.”

_____________________

Morgana had waited for hours now. Anger was rising within her. How dare Emrys not be here?   
Angry, she walked in circles now. Pacing. Was she too late? Had Emrys regained his powers already? Had he managed to get passed her without notice?

After one more hour, she decided she had enough. Her messy black her was falling in her eyes now, a sign of madness. Hurrying, she left the cave, ready to go to Camelot and fight of her brother by herself. 

“A toast to our new court sorceress! MORGANA!”  
Morgana froze at the sight. Hundreds of people stood there, glasses of wine in hand, as they toasted to – her?

“Morgana! You´re back!”, Arthur came forward with a smile. Morgana´s eyes widened. Too shocked to use her magic. Too wary by the fact that Arthur was not holding out his sword to her.   
His eyes were kind and inviting as he embraced her in a hug.   
Morgana almost shrieked internally.   
She shuddered at the touch. No one had hugged her in years. She was still frozen. 

“I like what you did with your hair! Nice touch really. New position, new style, I assume?”, Arthur held her shoulders now, laughing with closed eyes.   
She could kill him. 

“Morgana!”, another voice interrupted them. Morgana immediately turned. There he was. The traitor. The man who poisoned her.   
“I like your new look.”, he grinned. There was no sign of hostility. No sign of hatred. As though he had never betrayed her. 

“I have a gift for you. Here. It´t supposed to keep your nightmares at bay!”, he said, handing her a bracelet. She knew that bracelet.   
She had destroyed it. This very same bracelet. She stared at it. Recognizing the carves and runes. Even the scratches were the same. She had destroyed it, hoping her nightmares would warn her of Emrys. 

Shaking, as though it would burn her, she took the bracelet. Immediately she felt the same ease she had felt before. Her head snapped up, locking eyes with Merlin. It wasn´t hurting her at all.   
This was – this was not a sorcerer who had lost his magic. Not one who sought revenge. He wasn´t frightened at all. He looked at her with trust. As though the never betrayed her.

“It´s time you show them what you´re capable of.”, now Mordred came over.   
No way. Mordred too?   
He looked between her and Merlin and nodded as the two men got in position. “Morgana, the butterflies. We are summoning butterflies to show them your worth as court sorceress! It was your idea, remember?”  
She heard him in her mind, as Merlin and him turned their backs to her. The three of them standing in a circle, as Arthur backed away, smiling as he waited for their trick. 

“Butterflies?”, Morgana mumbled to herself. What was going on? They were asking her to perform magic? Butterflies?  
She felt a headache coming up. Was this a trap?   
Or a chance to take over Camelot?!

“Three, two - “, she heard Mordred in her head and she decided, whatever was happening right now, she would play along for now. Maybe then she would figure out what was happening. Especially since Emrys didn´t seem to suspect her for some reason.  
And he had his magic back … or never lost it. But he should have. Had she made a mistake?

And then their eyes glowed gold, startling Arthur as he noticed. How could one man be so blind? What did he expect anyway?  
Butterflies flew from their hands. Blue ones from Merlin, Dark green ones from Morgana, a mix of both from Mordred. They flew around their heads, blinding the crowd from their view for a second as suddenly, they burst from them.   
Surrounding the cooing audience. They heard awws and oohs. And Morgana had never felt this confused. 

And Arthur -? Even Arthur looked at them in aww, as realization seemed to hit him with reality. Right in his face.   
The gold in their eyes, there was no doubt about it. Arthur smiled. Maybe he had worried himself too much. Maybe Magic did deserve a new chance, after all.


	8. Switched

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I´m not sure if this is getting more or less confusing now.... Well I´m literally just winging it XD so... have fun with this one :3

To say Morgana was scared was like implying to a child that Fire might hurt.   
Morgana was terrified. Horrified even, for the lack of a better word.   
Merlin was attacking her. Blatantly – with magic. Right in front of Arthur and the knights.  
Sure, yeah. Just a small while ago they had confessed their magic to Arthur. But that idiot thought it was a joke!

He needed a court sorcerer because he feared a rebellion.   
Arthur was still scared of magic. And Merlin´s behavior was NOT helping. 

“Surrender, Morgana. Or we will kill you.”, Arthur demanded, slowly coming to his senses. Why did he look more frightened of her than Merlin?

“Yes. Of course. Please – I surrender!”, she cried, eyes wide with fear.   
“Don´t listen to her, Arthur. She is playing with your mind. Use the sword from the stone. That is the only blade that can kill a high priestess of the old religion.”, Merlin demanded, surprisingly uncertain when he faced his king. 

“High priestess? I´m not a priestess, I am Arthur´s sister. Uther´s ward! This – you were making me court sorceress only an hour ago! I went into the cave and-”

“Shut up with your lies, Morgana. Arthur made me his court sorcerer, because the people wouldn´t accept anyone else. Especially not you!”, Merlin interrupted her, eyes fierce, but he waited for Arthur´s command.   
Arthur, on the other hand looked torn between them. 

“Merlin, why are you doing this? We´re friends! You helped me get Mordred to the druids, you helped me understand my magic. You -”  
“I poisoned you.”, Merlin´s eyes flickered with shame and guilt, causing Arthur to point his sword between them. 

“Seize them, already!”, he demanded, causing the knights to approach carefully. 

Morgana shivered as she looked at Merlin.   
“Why would you say that?”, she asked with a deep exhaling breath. “You would never do something like that. I KNOW you, Merlin. You´re a good person. You wouldn´t. Never -”

At that, Merlin´s hand sank a little. Confusion mirrored in his eyes as well as Morgana´s.   
“You mean – you don´t remember?”, Merlin asked exasperated.   
“That can´t be – why -”

At that he already felt cold chains closed on his hands. Merlin looked up in surprise, but a glance at Arthur already told him all he needed to know.   
With Morgana like this – Arthur´s blatant ignorance and confusion – of course he must believe he was an impostor. An enemy.

Morgana didn´t move as ropes were tightened around her hands. Her eyes were wide with fear, her lips were trembling.   
“Where is Mordred? He will vouch for me, I´m certain!”, she demanded, eyes switching between faces erratically.   
Merlin flinched at the implication as he almost charged at her again.   
“You will not ally yourself with Mordred! I sent him off! He won´t – I won´t let him kill Arthur!”, he roared, causing the witnesses to gasp. 

“Merlin, what the hell are you saying! Mordred is a knight of Camelot! He swore his allegiance to me! He would never turn against me.”, Arthur said, still unsure whom to point his sword at.   
He didn´t know what it was – but something told him that Morgana was not playing this.   
Morgana was hungry with power. She was full of revenge fantasies. And her chances to play the innocent maiden were long gone.   
Had she lost her memory? But why was she in the cave? 

“Actually, we are not so sure about that.”  
It was Morgana who spoke to him, a pleading look in her eyes. Merlin stared at her in confusion.   
“Mordred is destined to kill you. We are doing everything we can to stop him from doing that. But destiny is a fickle thing. We don´t know how it will happen, we just know that it will.   
But I didn´t turn an evil witch just yet so -”  
Then her eyes widened. She blinked a few times. 

“Unless you think I did?” Her head turned around to find familiar faces.   
Someone who would confirm or deny her theory. 

“We will talk of this when we are back in Camelot.”, Arthur finally decided, motioning for his men to escort Merlin and Morgana.   
Neither of which fought against their ropes. Despite them being obviously powerful enough to escape. 

With that, they left the confused audiences. The celebrations stuck in their throat. Arthur as well knew that the sudden appearance of Morgana would cause a panic.   
Though it would be difficult to explain why he had chained Merlin as well. 

“I don´t understand. Did something happen, while I was in that cave? Did an impostor appear?  
The evil witch? Merlin, you need to tell me?”

Merlin scoffed at her.   
“Your soul has turned years ago, Morgana. I´m not going to listen to your lies.”

“Why, because you poisoned me?”, Morgana asked incredulous. Still disbelieve in her eyes. Merlin? Poisoning her? No way. But Merlin flinched at that.   
Clearly he believed it to be true. 

“If you truly believe that I´m evil. Why am I alive then? The prophecy states that you will be my doom. Is this it? What are you waiting for?”

Merlin turned at her curiosity. “You feel – different.”, he admitted cautiously. Morgana shot him a small smile. “That means you won´t kill me just yet?”, she asked, eyes flashing with relief.   
“If Arthur doesn´t kill us first?”, Merlin said, but it didn´t sound like a confirmation.   
Morgana´s smile died on her features. 

“He won´t. If you talk to him. He listens to you. He always does. You are his best friend after all.”, she assured. Causing Merlin to look at her, still in suspicion. 

Arthur was watching them. And he recognized that look on Merlin´s face.   
It was the same he shot Mordred most of the time. One that said that he wanted to trust him or Morgana in this case. But he couldn´t.

Arthur himself however, he was panicking. And the worst was, he just showed that to the people. He had promised them to make “Emrys” court sorcerer, but as soon as he had used magic to attack Morgana, Arthur had seized him.   
He didn´t recognize him. This couldn´t be Merlin? Or was it? Because apparently he had tried to protect him. Which was just such a Merlin thing to do.   
And Morgana? Morgana looked like the girl he knew. She sounded like the girl he knew, but she couldn´t be. She should be evil, but somehow she didn´t seem the part. 

Morgana was scared. Morgana was not supposed to be scared for gods sake!

All this seemed so wrong. There must be some kind of explanation! Just what happened in that cave? What even WAS this cave?

“Sire.”, a voice jolted Arthur from his watch post.   
Leon was riding next to him, face held high with a stern expression. “I don´t think this is the Morgana we know.”, he said, barely looking at Arthur as he looked ahead. 

Arthur gritted his teeth. “I think she´s trying to trick us.”

Leon shook his head. “No. I don´t think so. The trick would be too obvious. Morgana isn´t stupid. I think it must have to do with the cave.”

Arthur nodded with relief. “Right, they were both in the cave after all.” He kept nodding, as if to reassure himself, but Leon just sighed.   
“No. The cave wouldn´t have the same effect on Merlin. This is our Merlin.”  
With that cryptic answer he rode ahead. Baffled, Arthur kicked his horse to catch up with him. 

“What are you talking about? This – this Merlin has magic! There is no way he -”

Leon turned his scarred face to Arthur. And for the split of a second he considered if this was Leon at all. Just this morning he had considered asking Leon about his newly appeared old scar. Who was this man?

“Gwaine´s game is far more than a game, Sire. He IS connecting the dots.   
But Gwaine is also setting the dots in the first place. What he says and does becomes real. Though I´m not sure what rules his prophecies follow, because there are some things that haven´t come true or were proven wrong.”, Leon carefully started, honesty in his eyes, as Arthur´s face crunched at the bare mention of Gwaine. 

When leon noticed his reaction he sighed.   
“Sire, I have seen a lot in the past thousand years and -”  
“Hold on a minute. What the actual hell are you talking about?”

Leon bridged his nose in annoyance. “Your majesty, Gwaine is the son of the triple goddess. What he says is bound to destiny. It´s not that things happen and he guesses them right, it´s that he makes stuff up and they become real, instead. No matter if past, or present.   
Gwaine made up Emrys. He made up Merlin. Merlin is magic itself and when Gwaine told us about the rules of the Crystal cave, that only Emrys can enter and leave in the correct time, he was speaking the truth.   
I became immortal because of his shenanigans. I lived through the age of dragons without aging. I spend centuries with a riddling Dragon for gods sake.”, Leon sighed, watching Arthur´s pupils becoming small, despite the darkness that surrounded them. 

“I believe the Morgana that came of the cage might be the Morgana of another timeline.   
One were she never became the evil witch we knew. But that could also mean that our Morgana is on the other side now.”

Arthur´s mouth dropped. Questions were flooding his mind like water an underwater cave.   
“Wait a second. Hold on. You are meaning to tell me – this Morgana is good. You are immortal and the overpowered blasting sorcerer there is the Merlin we all know?”

Leon smiled a little at him. “Glad you´re catching on, my lord.”

“But – should I be worried about Merlin?”

Leon laughed. “No. I don´t think that´s necessary.”  
“What about Morgana?”  
“Offer her a room. I believe her to be harmless. If I´m right, we should be save from her wrath for now.”  
“Should I worry about you.”  
Leon turned his head at Arthur, an unreadable expression painted on his face.  
“About Gwaine then?”  
“Ah. That.”, Leon tilted his head in consideration. “I believe him to be more dangerous when he´s drunk. The more drunk he is – the more “canon” as he calls it, his ideas become.   
I would advice against telling him that though.   
I fear that panic might fuel his powers. Either that of the self confidence of being considered a god.” Leon rolled his eyes. 

“Either way, I think all of Camelot need to catch their breath right now. You need to resolve the panic around your chained court sorcerer first. Don´t worry. I´m sure your biggest problems will be solved with a couple signatures and lots of council meetings.”

Leon sounded cheerful about that, as he patted Arthur´s shoulder with a surprisingly strong hand. 

“Leon, why didn´t you tell me sooner?”

“Would you have believed me?”

“I´m still not sure I do now.”

“See!”

_______________________________

“Can I come in?”

It was awkward. For Morgana at least. She hadn´t slept in an actual bed in ages.   
She hadn´t felt so at ease either. She actually managed to fall asleep. Okay, not right away, but can you blame her?  
She was paranoid. Servants were rushing in and out, bringing her food and drinks she didn´t dare touch.   
She even projected a magic shield around her room, so she would immediately be alerted when someone entered. At least the bracelet wasn´t restricting her magic. Quite the contrary actually. It felt like it was ordering it. Managing it to more efficient use.

“Arthur.”, warily, Morgana said up. How long had she been asleep?  
Arthur sheepishly put his head through the door. He wore a smile, but looked equally wary as Morgana. Though, apparently for a different reason than her.

Arthur was fiddling with his chain mail. He had no weapon, Morgana noticed. But she could feel a presence outside. Merlin was behind him, waving at her in a friendly manner.   
Friendly, Morgana was almost amused. 

“So – I talked with Merlin last night. And he told me everything. About – about the destinies and your magic and where it comes from and -  
God Morgana I am so sorry for not believing you yesterday. I know you were trying to tell me about your magic and I was stupid enough not to believe you.”  
Arthur threw his hand up in his hair, swaying slightly, as though he had drunken a lot yesterday. At the feast.   
The one Morgana refused to attend. Too many people. Too many witnesses.   
These people trusted her. Taking this kingdom would prove to be easy, should she act wisely. Accordingly. 

The knights would bow to her, as soon as Arthur was dead. However, nobody was allowed to know who had his head. Unless of course – if this was a trick.   
If it was – it was a particularly good concealed one, she must admit. 

“I understand, Arthur. Of course. I mean – Uther was very convincing after all.”

Arthur nodded with a soft smile. “He was blinded by his hatred. I´m glad we can leave all of this past us now.   
I´ve seen how you use magic. There is no evil in that.”

Morgana twitched. “You are more like Uther than you think.”, is what queen Annis of Caerlon had said to her. Right after her best warrior and Arthur had fought for a truce between the kingdoms.   
Right after she had ditched Morgana´s allegiance.

This was the first time since the druids who Merlin had advised to her all those years ago- right before Arthur´s men had slaughtered them all, anyone had ever said that to her. 

For a moment Morgana felt her heart release itself from the strong grip she held on it.   
Arthur didn´t say something foolish like she could be good. Nothing like, why did you betray me? Not anything close to: I can help you change.  
He said she was good. That was an absolute. It asked no questions.  
Because Arthur admitted he was wrong.

This was all she ever wanted. It pained. It hurt to hear this now. Now that she had tossed away her hopes. She hardened her heart once more.   
She couldn´t allow Arthur to reach her like that. 

Especially not when Merlin had nothing better to do than grimace at her. The old her would have laughed at them.   
Her current self wanted to kill him this instant. But she didn´t know what Merlin was planning. What Arthur was planning. 

How long until the Pyre was build?  
How much time until they would try to behead her? Not that they could do that anyway. No mortal blade could kill her.   
But maybe that was just it. Maybe they had aligned with a dragon and forged the ax in it´s breath?  
Morgana crossed her arms in defense. 

“Well. That´s all I wanted to say really. By the way, Balinor is waiting to see you.   
He´ll help you. It´s your first day as court sorceress after all.”, he smiled at her, waving at her as he tried to leave the room. 

Morgana looked at them in suspicion. “Who´s Balinor?”, she asked carefully. Not sure whether or not it was a good idea to mention that she had no idea who that was. 

“Well, wouldn´t you believe? It´s the last dragon lord. The one who helped us bann the dragon all those years ago. I´m sorry we never told you about him.   
Father forbid to mention him. He´s Merlin´s father. It seemed he used to be Uther´s advisor years ago. In times like this – I asked him to take over once more.”

Morgana´s eyes glanced at Merlin who looked at her excitedly. He talked to her through his mind.  
“Sorry I didn´t tell you about him. I wasn´t sure I´d ever see him again, after Uther had banned him. He said he never wanted to return.   
But he did now! You´ll love him!”

Morgana´s lips pressed into a thin line.   
Somehow she had this feeling that there were a few more people she should be wary of than she had thought before.   
Her to-murder-list seemed to be growing by the second. She needed to be careful. So she nodded slowly. 

“No need to be nervous. I´ve told my father about you. He´s excited to meet you too.”, Merlin said, a wide grin still directed at her.   
Morgana was still stiff with caution, but she managed to smile back. This was gonna be harder than she initially thought.


	9. Simple Solutions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I have decided to finally end this book. And I know, some of you might be disappointed. But honestly, I got to a point where I didn´t know how to continue anymore. And it was about time you can all rest in peace now. I have tortured you enough XD
> 
> If you want, the concept itself is free for anyone to use, if you want.   
> I would love to see other people´s versions of this idea. And I´d be honored to have inspired a few new Merlin fanfictions :)   
> Thank you for reading and liking and supporting this story. It was a wild ride and a lot of fun and I never imagined it to make any sense whatsoever. But here we are.   
> With the final conclusion. 
> 
> <3

„Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Mambo No. 5...“, he said sang deeply, with a dark voice.   
Leon tried to plugg his ears with two fingers. “Will you please, PLEASE, shut up, Kilgarrah?”

“You just taught me this song. I love it.  
1 – 2 – 3, 4 , 5 – everybody in the car so come on let´s ride ...”   
Kilgarrah´s long neck was tilting from side to side as he sang this annoying song that Leon did NOT teach him. Thank you very much.   
How was it that Leon was always stuck with the idiots?

First he travels with the king of Camelot and the group of the drunken table and one day later he has to eat rats and listen to ridiculous songs of a man sized lizard.   
Who was still growing. This was a child dragon! Leon was the baby sitter – of a freaking dragon!

It´s tail was tapping the ground in a beat that fitted his stupid song. 

“How on earth are you the dragon that will riddle Merlin to death?!”, he mumbled to himself.   
He had taught Kilgarrah most of what happened in the future and how he got here, as soon as Kilgarrah was hatched. 

Admittedly, a dragon birth was a beautiful thing. With how those dragon lords had all gathered around this little thing and watched as Danton had given Kilgarrah his name.   
Kilgarrah meant “Kindness”. That´s what Danton had told Leon. Who had slowly, over the centuries, become close with the dragon lord folk.   
Simply, because he had been searching for Kilgarrah, to ask him what all this time traveling meant. 

Never had he imagined, he would end up in a time, when Kilgarrah wasn´t even born yet. How on earth was this the wise dragon who could explain – literally anything to him.   
This was beginning to look like an endless journey. 

“Just how long until the once and future king is born again?”, Leon muttered to himself, as he and Kilgarrah traveled around with Danton to help protect farmers.   
After all, Leon was still a knight through and through. It was kind of a shame he was no dragon lord. Their purpose was literally building and protecting this country from – well – bandits, barbarians, some occasional evil sorcerers. 

In the beginning, Leon had been scared of every sorcerer he had crossed. Now it was normal for him to see farmers grow crops with magic. Healers used it to cure illnesses,   
The land was flourishing. In a way that Leon had never seen it in his own time. Not under Uther, not yet under Arthur.   
The worst part, really, was traveling with a dragon who was obsessed with futuristic music, that shouldn´t exist in either of their times. 

Well, it was a fact that Kilgarrah kept talking to that crystal cave prophet guy who appeared throughout all times in and out of the crystal cave and taught him weird shit. At random. For no other reason than to annoy Leon. Somehow, the guy didn´t like him.   
Leon never knew why. He swore to make sure nobody else would ever go into the crystal cave and out on their own terms. NEVER again. 

What the hell were memes anyway?

Leon, Danton and Kilgarrah decided to make camp. Near the crystal cave, in the valley of the fallen kings. That – not yet – deserved it´s name. 

“Danton, I must ask you this question. What do you know about the crystal Cave?”, Leon finally asked and used a salve to cream his newest wound. Baby Wyverns. Horrible little creatures. Had a fascination for eyeballs. Tried to gouge it out his skull with it´s tiny claws. 

Good thing Danton had helped him, or else he might be blind for the rest of his apparently immortal life.   
Getting his eye repaired was not an option, unfortunately. Not because magic couldn´t heal his eye, but because the magic was bound to Leon´s life, rejected any form of outside magic.   
He was RADIATING magic now. Other than his youth and life, it wouldn´t help his wounds more than a normal immune system would. Maybe it healed faster, but not better. And it definitely didn´t replace his eyeballs.

“Not much, to be honest. Magic is /was / will be born in here. And I was told, some of our ancestors got lost in the cave and never returned. Or were seen in different times. Future and past.  
Sorcerers who enter, however, they come out – different. I can´t say how exactly, only that the cave is dangerous terrain. Do yourself a favor and don´t ever go into that cave.”

Leon nodded slowly. And rolled his eyes.

\----------------

“If all that is true then WHY in god´s name did it become a tradition that the court sorcerer goes into that cave?”, Arthur asked, exasperated as he threw his goblet at Leon.

None of them noticed the secret eavesdropper.  
Gwaine was watching them through a passageway that was reserved for servants, to pass the rooms unnoticed.

They were standing in the throne room, as Leon tried to explain everything that had happened. How he was thrown into the past and how he replaced his own self, as he went into the cave.   
He easily dodged the goblet, as though he was used to Arthur´s antics by now. Which he was, to be honest.

Gwaine was paling after Leon´s explanation. His – his story about Leon was real? But – he had made the whole thing up, that was ridiculous, wasn´t it?

“I suppose because Gwaine had made it so.” Gwaine bit his lip at that. He furrowed his eyes, unsure what to make of this conversation.  
“But that is contradicting!”  
“Yes, he is contradicting himself. I suppose that has caused some kind of rift in the crystal cave. Some change that connects his different attempts at explaining situations. He´s – like an author who doesn´t know how to end his story yet. Which is why he thinks of different outcomes.  
I believe he has created some kind of parallel universes that connect these outcomes through the crystal cave. 

I´m positive that Morgana must have been waiting in the cave and her evil self was switched with a nicer version who had entered the crystal cave at the same time as she had. Just in a different world.  
Which is why we must treat this Morgana with care, not caution.”

“What about Merlin, then?”, Arthur looked at his first knight helplessly. He didn´t understand a thing, but that was his fate now. Not understanding anything. He would have to get used to that.

“Merlin can enter and leave the crystal as he pleases, my lord. Because he is magic itself and the only constant in Gwaine´s prophesies. He can´t leave this world or time, however.   
This Merlin is our Merlin. I know this, because I have studied this whole affair for centuries. And I have been paying attention to Gwaine´s tales.”

“Why Gwaine though? What is so special about him?!”  
Leon sighed. “I think you know the answer to that, Sire. Gwaine is the son of the triple goddess. His will is connected to destiny. The more he drinks, the more dangerous he becomes. Because what he believes becomes real.   
And you believe more, when you´re drunk. And Gwaine is drunk all the time. Which is why our life has been tumbling so much lately. Now that he´s alive and part of nobility, his influences have risen. His confidence has grown. He has people he trusts now. He doubts less and just accepts what he´s been told.”

“You´re meaning to say – Gwaine is the most dangerous threat we have right now? Then what are we to do – what -”

“Sire, there is nothing we CAN do. Gwaine has the power of a goddess. We can only wait and see what happens next.”

Gwaine pulled his ear from the door. This was ridiculous. None of this could be true. He shook his head. No. He wasn´t the son of a goddess. Leon just made that up. Why would he make that up? Connecting the dots was supposed to be FUN.   
Now it was getting out of control. No. Leon must be lying. If any of this was true then -   
Gwaine ran to his room, searching for the gospel that lay around somewhere. He would test this theory.   
He had to prove to Leon, that this wasn´t his fault.   
“Theories, theories, come to mind –   
show me what´s going on the other side.  
Make Morgana, friend and foe, switch back to the realms they belong to go.”, he whispered and then, then he began to write. 

\-----------------------------

Morgana was too busy. Being court sorcerer was harder than she had imagined. Harder than ruling a kingdom as a tyrant monarch, at the very least.   
She was asked to sit with Merlin and rewrite the law, so that sorcerers could be living in peace and prosperity.   
The sole presence of Emrys, her demise, however, frightened her. Because he had magic. And he was powerful, she could sense it.   
How had she never noticed that before? His aura was literally everywhere. It surrounded the castle like a protective shield and he didn´t even notice it existed. 

The only advantage she had, was that Merlin seemed to not suspect her of evil – at all.   
He did not remember poisoning her, that she had figured out. And Morgouse had succeeded in taking the castle and killed Uther, before she disappeared to who knows where. 

Since then, Arthur had been furious about magic, but with the sudden peace in the five kingdoms, he was forced to accept that his father´s rage had been more evil than magic ever was. 

The fury turned to understanding. And the understanding to kindness.  
And all the kindness, suddenly directed at Morgana – somehow – cooled her down after a while.   
At first, it had fueled her rage. Now it became – less.   
She was accepted here. She was valued. Respected, not feared. Mordred was her friend. Gwen and Merlin too. Arthur asked her for her opinion, her help on everything that went on between the five kingdoms. 

Slowly, but sternly, her fears were replaced with acceptance. Her hatred was countered by the love people provided her with. And after two months of seeing how willing Arthur was to change and be better than their father – her heart softened. And she found, she didn´t want vengeance anymore.   
Not on a kingdom that was actually treating her the way she deserved. 

She felt her heart bleeding warmth against the abuse and trauma. She felt it grow and pump with – magic. Beautiful, innocent, pure magic.   
She learned to smile again, she learned to love again. 

In years, since her father (Gorlois) died, she had never felt this – free.   
And her decision to take over Camelot was pushed to the back of her mind as she feasted and drank with her new found family. Who accepted her as she was.   
And played crystal cave and dragons (CCND) with her. And she was allowed to be the main villain. And have her own pet dragon. 

Later, as Merlin had heard of this, he actually introduced her to Aithusa. Who he had hatched a couple of month´s ago.   
And Aithusa, despite Arthur´s fears, was allowed to live in the castle with them.   
Morgana was happy. 

Especially when Merlin and her pranked Arthur with magic. When the Dragon took Arthur by the shoulders and yote her out the window into a carriage full of straw (he wasn´t hurt, he laughed it off, actually). When Mordred insisted she was the purest sorceress to ever be born.  
When Gwaine made sure to point out, that Balinor, Arthur´s new advisor and Merlin´s father, liked her so much, he was about to adopt her -   
Morgana decided she didn´t want to leave. She felt save here. She felt at home. She felt loved. She belonged here. 

\-----------------------------

“You poisoned me?”, Morgana asked Merlin. Guards were watching the door, as Arthur had taken Merlin by his scarf and pushed them and the knights into one room to talk out all that was going on. The only person missing, because he couldn´t know of his heritage, was Gwaine.   
Arthur hadn´t known Gwaine had eavesdropped on him and Leon earlier and had gone to correct his “mistakes.” 

Merlin was in the middle of explaining all he had ever done for Camelot, for Arthur and how and why he had secretly fought against Morgana. 

“I´m going to bloody kill that dragon!”, Leon muttered and grabbed for a battle ax that was now his favorite new weapon. It had carvings in it´s blade that would remind you of Arthur´s sword Excalibur. That is, because it also was forged in a dragon´s breath. But he was the only one who knew that. 

The other knights send him weird looks, but Arthur and Merlin paid him no mind. 

“I HAD to. It was the only way to stop Morgouse from killing Uther!”  
Morgana looked at him in disbelief.   
“And you didn´t even think of asking me if I would drink it on my own free will?  
Because frankly speaking, You could have used a sleeping draft and Morgouse would not have seen the difference.  
You, the you I know at least, You and I talked about this for month´s! How we went wrong! How I made the mistake of trusting Morgouse, how you tried to get Arthur and me out the castle and failed.   
How Morgouse invaded the Castle and took Uther´s life!”

“I HAD NO CHOICE!”, Merlin shouted angrily. “Arthur was too young to become king!  
He was too young to loose his father!  
He couldn´t have all that responsibility on his shoulders at such a young age!”

“YOU are younger than him! And YOU have carried the responsibility for YEARS! And Arthur WOULD NOT have to rule alone! WE could have been there for him. WE WERE! And it turned out PERFECTLY.”  
Morgana was mad, and sad, and desperate as she tried to explain what her life had been like. It was hard to imagine. All the people she trusted so much – all of them feeling betrayed by things she never did.   
Causing her to feel betrayed by them. It hurt. 

Merlin froze at that. He blinked. He had never considered that – at all.   
He glanced at Arthur – who in return – looked shocked beyond believe. Scared and fascinated and worried and – there were too many emotions to count them all. After all – all of this was new. Well- admittedly not quite. Gwaine had taught him a lot.   
He didn´t look mad though. And he was listening at least. 

“Why are you even so OBSESSED with the prophesy? YOU told me, that relying on it and believing in it would most likely doom us to make it happen in the first place.   
You told me not to believe I would go mad, and to trust in the person I always was. Not what an old captured dragon said. And that we´d go through all of this together. And look! The other you was RIGHT. Look at what happened here!  
I – I just –Let me go home, please.”, Morgana looked at Arthur now. 

Arthur flinched a little at the pleading tone in her voice.   
She didn´t like it here. She was scared. And he could very well understand why. Arthur´s view on magic was – extremely biased, he realized.   
She must feel like she was under Uther´s reign once more. 

“I don´t know how to get you back.”, Arthur admitted slowly. Her mouth closed shut, as she hugged herself on the bed she was currently sitting on. Tears dangerously glinting in her eyes.  
It knocked on the door. 

Arthur turned around, confused. All his knights were here. The guards were ordered not to let anyone else in. Who was that?  
The question was answered as Gwaine entered through the door. He held his gospel under his arm. His look was stern, as though he was on a mission.  
Not that Gwaine ever looked serious on a mission.   
Leon stepped forward to tell him to leave, but Gwaine just raised his hand to shush him easily. 

If Leon´s mouth snapped shut because of his own will or because Gwaine had ordered it to. Hard to tell by the immortal´s expression.   
“You can go back.”, Gwaine said, as though he had heard them through the door.   
Then he slammed the gospel onto the bed, so that Morgana crouched back against the bed frame behind her.   
The gospel bounced on the bed, but pretty much stood where it was. 

“How?”, Arthur asked, eyebrows raised.   
“She just needs to go through the Crystal cave.”, Gwaine said, matter of factly. 

“How can you be sure? She could end up who knows where, if she did – she -”

Gwaine shook his head at Arthur´s doubts.   
“I have written a new paragraph into the gospel. If what Leon says is true, and I am a half god -”  
Arthur´s and Leon´s eyes widened, as the rest of the group suddenly all turned to Leon with equally shocked expressions.   
“Then it means I decide where she goes. And I have written that you will enter the cave and go back to your time or place or whatever that is.”

Morgana looked at him, mouth agape. “But – but your Morgana. The evil witch, what if she has taken over my home?”, she asked.  
Suddenly it dawned on Arthur – it wasn´t just this world that was facing this problem. What THEY were doing to Morgana wasn´t the only thing on her mind. The only thing scaring her.  
There was a concealed evil Morgana on the other side.   
Terrifying and fighting an undefended and unprepared Castle. Possibly killing this Morgana´s brother. 

“I made sure the castle is safe from her. And that she will be too.”, Gwaine said hesitantly.   
“What do you mean, she will be save?”, Arthur asked, confused and still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that one of his knights was actually part god. She will be safe? She should be killed. Erased from this world! Any world, really.

“Our Morgana deserves better than what I´ve made her go through. I´ve made sure, you will both be accepted to stay in the other world.”, Gwaine said with certainty. Like this was all his fault. Because he was an author and author´s tended to be cruel to their characters.   
And in a way, he was right about that. 

“And what about the other Gwaine? What if he does something that counters your decisions?”, Leon asked, slightly terrified. 

Gwaine huffed a breath. “Open the gospel, Morgana. Write something in it.”

Morgana looked up at Gwaine, slightly confused. “What? Why?”

Gwaine shook his head. “I have tried something earlier. Because I have realized that some of those ideas that are written in there, were written by me. But I can´t remember writing them. I´ve always put it aside, wondering if maybe I just wrote it, when I was drunk.   
Well – you will see that I was wrong.”

Morgana still looked at him with suspicion. Then she took the book.   
“Do you have a feather and ink?”

“Wait, I got you.”, Merlin said, heading over to a small cupboard and took out the asked for tools.   
He hurried back to her side and handed them to her.   
Morgana took the feather, almost spilled the ink on the blanket and then – she drew a small duck.

She waited a moment, then suddenly, she shot up in a standing position on the very bed she had sat on. The ink finally spilled on the sheets and grounds. Only the gospel was mysteriously clean and safe from the sudden action. 

She covered her mouth, as Arthur grabbed for the book. Where something was writing itself onto the page.   
“What the feudal system -”, was written as a comment under Morgana´s small scribbling. 

“You can – talk to the other - him?”, Leon whispered, hissing in a breath as all eyes were back on Gwaine again.   
“Yes. I can. Which is probably the only reason why I believe what you say about me, Sir Leon, the immortal. 

Honestly, you should have told me sooner. 

Anyway, I discussed all of this with – my other self. And we´ve come to the conclusion to send both Morgana´s to the other side.   
Morgana hasn´t attacked anyone yet. And we wrote down why. She is reverting to her old self. She will be safe and sound and happy there.”, Gwaine concluded, still in a state of disbelieve what he was capable of doing. 

Arthur and the knights and Merlin looked at him in disbelieve.   
Who knew Gwaine could be so – authoritative? Up until now he had made a joke out of everything.   
Him being serious and earnest in his actions - 

“So – I can just go home? I don´t have to – stay?”

Gwaine smiled. “It´s your choice. You can leave anytime you want. And I – we – made sure the connection between the crystal caves stays with two realities. So you won´t end up in one, where Arthur kills you.”

“Hey, I´m right here.”

“Yes, and you keep thinking about killing Morgana.”

“I AM THE KING!”

“And literally the weakest person in this room right now.   
Merlin is the most powerful sorcerer and dragon lord of all times, Morgana is a powerful sorceress, We have three people in this room who are immortal and one half god who shaped the entire story of this land before he was even born.”, Gwaine dismissed him with a wave of his hand. 

Arthur visibly paled. “That – is – kinda -”  
Merlin stood beside him. “If it makes you feel any better, when you die, you will be reborn one day. You´re the once and future king.”

Arthur frowned at that.   
“Wait wait, wait a second. Gwaine, are you immortal too, now? I mean – if you are a half god?”

Gwaine laughed. “Nah, I don´t think so.”  
“So, no.”, Leon said. “Why not?”  
“I don´t want to.”, Gwaine simply shrugged. And that is probably the reason why he is still mortal. Because he said so, it was so. 

“Okay, good.”, Merlin bridged his nose with his hand. “So, if we send Morgana back and both of them stay there – will – will the other Camelot really accept both of them?”

“My other self will make sure of that.”, Gwaine confirmed. Then he clapped his hands together.   
“So, my friends. This was enough serious tatter. Now that I know how my power works -”

“How can you know how it works all of a sudden?”, Leon asked incredulous.   
The answer was actually very simple, but nobody answered Leon. It would simply be, that when Gwaine accepted that he was a half god, he decided he knew how it works. Which is why he knows how it works now. That´s it. It´s as simple as that. Gwaine could do that. He was a god. Okay, he was close.

“We will have a feast now. Merlin just finally got his promotion to be court sorcerer and the town wants to see a celebration.   
AAAAAnd -”, Gwaine turned in a circle and suddenly everyone was dressed in ridiculous festival outfits that belonged more on a carnival festival, then formal festivities. 

“There are a few Dragon eggs on their way from Caerlon, who want the last Dragon lord to hatch them. Because, clearly, this land has too little dragons.”

With that, he turned on his heels once more and the doors magically opened to them.   
His shoes turned into heelies so he could randomly slide through the door in an elegant movement, sunglasses appearing before his eyes and some kind of metal music supporting his dramatic departure. 

The knights were left to stare at him, irritated and terrified by the sudden changes in their fellow knight. “What have we done?”, Leon mumbled, but was ignored again. 

“Why do I feel like Camelot is doomed?”, Arthur asked, shaking his head, but he laughed his worries away. 

And for the night, at least for the celebration, Morgana stayed with them. And helped Arthur organize a few laws. In the morning she would leave. But her and her alternate self would visit again soon.   
The Dragon´s as well were about to return. In both worlds.  
And the golden age had finally begun. 

The biggest problem was just – well – all the Shenanigans the country had to fear from Gwaine, as you can probably imagine.   
But Arthur could deal with a bunch of Fairies who tried to paint the Castle pink.   
Or prophesies about four wizards who would turn Camelot into a wizard school in a couple hundred years. 

He could live with Gwaine´s attempts to get his “ships” past his notice and Leon playing chess with the great Dragon who was once supposed to be dead.   
He could deal with Merlin being magic and using every opportunity to almost die for him and Lancelot actually dying at least twice a week. Literally. With blood and all.

And if they sat down together, once a week, to play connecting the dots – guessing which of the newest events were Gwaine´s fault or not,   
or to play CCND with said half god – then that was a nice new tradition.   
All in all – finally – there was peace.   
And that was all that mattered. 

THE END


End file.
